Liberia struggled on Monday to track down 17 suspected Ebola carriers who fled quarantine at the weekend, while the U.N. health agency urged affected West African nations to screen all departures in a bid to contain the worst outbreak of the virus.
In the Liberian capital Monrovia, police awaited a consignment of protective equipment before redeploying to West Point – a sprawling ocean-front shantytown – to reopen a quarantine centre attacked by a rock-throwing crowd on Saturday, allowing patients, who had been isolated, to get away.
“We are very, very concerned about the situation,” Information Minister Lewis Brown said, adding that 17 patients were still missing from the centre, which was thoroughly looted.
“The police had to stand down because they were concerned not to put their men at risk. They got a supply of protective equipment yesterday and my expectation is that they will redeploy today.
With its healthcare system and government infrastructure struggling to cope, Liberia has been the country hardest-hit by the highly infectious and incurable disease, which has killed 1,145 people in four West African countries.
Officials and healthcare workers met community leaders in West Point in an effort to reopen the converted school.
Residents told Reuters they were angry that President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s government had brought people infected with the virus to their community. Many voiced fears that Saturday’s looting would spread contamination through the neighbourhood of corrugated shacks separated by narrow, muddy alleys.
“It felt bad. These people have put themselves at risk and the entire community at risk,” said Molly Cooper, leader of a local women’s association.
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