WHO Puts Kenya on Notice for Ebola Outbreak
Kenya is the next African nation to be put on alert by the World Health Organization, which has categorized the country as a "high-risk" site for a potential Ebola outbreak.
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Kenya is the next African nation to be put on alert by the World Health Organization, which has categorized the country as a “high-risk” site for a potential Ebola outbreak.
However, despite this news, Kenyan officials were still keeping local airports accessible to incoming flights from Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Guinea — the four countries impacted thus far by Ebola.
Also read: The West African Food Staple That Isn’t Helping the Ebola Crisis
As the BBC pointed out Wednesday, Kenya serves as a major hub for flights from West Africa, making it particularly vulnerable to the virus:
This is the most serious warning to date by the WHO that Ebola could spread to East Africa.
The number of people killed by Ebola in West Africa has risen to 1,069, the WHO said in its latest update.
Fifty-six deaths and 128 new cases were reported in the region in the two days to 11 August, it added.
Canada said it would donate up to 1,000 doses of an experimental Ebola vaccine to help fight the outbreak.
In an attempt to contain, and hopefully eradicate, this latest scourge, the WHO on Tuesday gave the green light to the use of untested drugs on Ebola patients, the BBC also reported.
–Posted by Kasia Anderson
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The number of global infections is largely symbolic, but dwarfs other major outbreaks, such as SARS, MERS and Ebola.
Seventeen people have died in the outbreak, all of them in and around Wuhan; close to 600 have been infected.
Two major cyclones in Mozambique in 2019 also prompt worries that the country may be prone to more storms as a result of climate change.
One of the most persistent bloodlettings on this planet is taking place in Africa and it is likely to continue as the world turns a blind eye.
Plutocrats have hollowed out our institutions and reshaped our values, ensuring that the worst the country has to offer hold the most power.
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