Sierra Leone police arrest 13 over Ebola fear
In West Africa, police have arrested 13 people over organizing an illegal funeral for a suspected Ebola victim in Sierra Leone.
Police superintendent, Da Samah, told AFP that security forces stopped the funeral procession of the 50-year-old man on the outskirts of Freetown over fears that the unsafe procession would lead to the spread of the deadly disease.
“We stopped the burial and put out an alert for the ambulance which eyewitnesses said brought the corpse to the cemetery,” he said.
The police official added that the mourners had been arrested because they lacked a legal “burial permit.”
Organizing a burial without a permit is considered a crime in Sierra Leone, risking perpetrators a two-year jail term.
“People should adhere to the government policy of safe and dignified burials so that we can end the high rate of transmission of the Ebola virus,” said Alimamy Kamara, head of the Ebola Response Center in charge of Freetown and the surrounding area.
Unsafe burials, involving contact with the dead, were a common means for the out-of control spread of the Ebola epidemic at the start of the outbreak, when public education about the disease was limited.
Sierra Leone health officials say the death toll from the Ebola disease has reached 3,832 people since December 2013. In West Africa, the UN has announced over 10,573 people died due to the outbreak, which began in southern Guinea and spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Ebola is one of the deadliest viruses threatening mankind. It spreads through direct contact with body fluids of an infected person. Its symptoms include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, red eyes, chest pain, coughing, stomachache, severe weight loss, bleeding and bruising.
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