- declares NERC Situation Room Director
July 2, 2015 By Patrick Jaiah Kamara
National Ebola Response Centre (NERC) Situation Room Director, Umaru B. Sesay, has assured that quarantined homes are ‘secure and safe’.
Most of the positive Ebola cases recently have emanated from people escaping from quarantined homes, thus infecting others.
But Sesay said NERC has instituted new measures that will ensure nobody leaves or enters quarantined homes. He said they initially quarantined homes only after blood specimens had been tested positive, “but now immediately after a sick person meets an Ebola case definition we place them under temporal quarantine for 24 hours until the test result is published”.
Speaking on Tuesday at the newly constructed Emergency Response Center at Army headquarters, Sesay noted that people under quarantined eat what they like and that even non-Ebola cases are treated free of charge. He said they also give nutritional support to children that are affected by the isolation.
Also, NERC boss, Retired Major Alfred Palo Conteh stated that Operation Northern Push, which was launched in Port Loko and Kambia, gave added resources and put new restrictions in order to normalise the situation in the two northern districts.
He said the villages that are under quarantine are being run better than before, with the requisite food, shelter and support for all concerned. He said the people now have better orientation on why to stay at quarantined homes until the stipulated 21 days, thus calling on citizens to be vigilant and be the eyes and ears of the response.
The NERC CEO said they will continue to enforce emergency Ebola laws until the country gets to zero spanning 42 days.
He warned districts across the country that have gone for months without new Ebola cases not to be complacent about the disease, as a 17-year-old boy was tested positive for Ebola in neighbouring Liberia which had gone for several weeks without any positive case – a clear manifestation that the disease will resurface at any time.