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Written By: Editorial Team | Published : December 2, 2014 1:30 PM IST
Geneva, Dec 2: Finally a ray of hope amid the on-going Ebola outbreak. According to a senior official at The World Health Organisation (WHO), the aim to isolate and treat 70 percent of Ebola patients in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea Conakry, has been achieved. Further, the WHO has also succeeded in ensuring safe burial of 70 percent of Ebola victims.
WHO Assistant Director General Bruce Aylward recalled the situation of the outbreak two months earlier, when the number of cases showed no signs of declining, to the current situation. Speaking to the reporters in Geneva Monday, he said that this target was achieved within 60 days after it was set in the month of October.
Aylward, who is in charge of dealing with Ebola, noted that two months ago, there were several problems to deal with including the insufficiency of beds for infected and lack of trained staff for safe burial of Ebola victims. Since then the situation has changed. Now the affected countries are witnessing a decline in the rate of transmission of the virus in the three vulnerable countries, with the exception of the western region of Sierra Leone. (Read: What is the Ebola virus disease survival rate?)
This was a 'very, very different place than 60 days ago', Aylward said. 'In all three countries it's clear now that more than 70 percent of the Ebola deaths we know about are buried safely. And this is because in the past 60 days, the number of safe burial teams has more than doubled,' he added. (Read: 7 tips to prevent the spread of Ebola)
With achievement of the target, the WHO official also confidently said that provision of additional beds will soon be made to cover the infected cases in a matter of weeks. In the past two months, the number of beds for Ebola cases has risen from 267 to 650 in Sierra Leone, from 480 to nearly 1,000 in Liberia and has remained stable at around 200 in Guinea Conakry.
In early October, the number of cases was running at 1,000 per week and now has recorded 1,100 cases, which reflects stability in the spread of the virus. Aylward said there remained hotspots with rising cases, with particular concern for western areas of Sierra Leone. In Guinea Conakry, the problem is in the concentration of beds in only two places, in a country where most patients are unable to travel long distances for treatment. (Read: Ebola virus is mutating rapidly say scientists)
With inputs from IANS
Photo source Getty images
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