Senegal closes Guinea border over Ebola

Senegal has closed its border with Guinea because of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, despite warnings that such measures are counterproductive.


Senegal also banned flights and ships from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone – the three worst-hit countries.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says travel bans do not work, especially if they stop doctors going to help tackle the crisis.

In Liberia, a boy shot while protesting about a quarantine has reportedly died.

Shakie Kamara, 16, was one of three people seriously injured on Wednesday after security forces fired at protesters, angry after blockades were erected around the West Point slum.

His grandmother tearfully told local TV that she had seen his body in hospital.

The quarantine was imposed on West Point after local residents stormed a quarantine centre last weekend, looting it and allowing 17 suspected Ebola patients to leave, leading to fears the virus could spread through the area.

Residents said they were unable to leave the area to work or buy food but the government says supplies are being distributed.

The current outbreak of Ebola is the most deadly ever, killing at least 1,350 people.

David Nabarro, a British doctor who the United Nations appointed last week to co-ordinate the global response to the crisis, told the AFP news agency he did not know what stage the current outbreak was at.

“We’re either close to a plateau, but then we’ll drop, or we’re in a phase – an inflexion point – where it is going to increase, and I absolutely cannot tell,” he said in Guinea before travelling to Liberia.

BBC