Ebola: Liberian soldiers opens fire on residents of a slum

Liberian soldiers opened fire on residents of a slum in the country’s capital after it was locked down to contain the spread of the virus. People were harassed as the country’s Ebola Task Force brutally enforced a quarantine of Monrovia’s West Point district which was ordered by the country’s president last night.
The chaos started after protesters surrounded the home of West Point’s commissioners, Miatta Flowers, and blamed her for the presidential decision to turn their neighbourhood into an open-air isolation word.  

This weekend matters came to a head when a mob attacked and looted an Ebola screening centre, accusing the authorities of bringing sick people to their neighbourhood. Many of patients ran away, though they were found later on according to media reports. Looters made off various items including bloody sheets and mattresses which could spread the virus.

In many areas of the capital, dead bodies have been on the streets for hours, sometimes days, as people waited for the corpses to be picked by ministry workers. At least 50,000 people live there which is one of the poorest neighbourhoods in the capital.

The number of Ebola cases in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, has reached 2,240 and a total of 1,229 deaths were also registered, UN spokesman Steaphane Dujarric said on Tuesday. ‘WHO is working with the World Food Programme (WFP) to ensure that people in the quarantine zone receive regular food aid and other non-medical supplies,’ Xinhua quoted Dujarric as saying at a daily news briefing.  He gave the latest statistics quoting information from the World Health Organisation (WHO).