KEY POINTS
A second case of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) has been confirmed in Mali.
A total of 13,896 confirmed, probable, and suspected cases of EVD have been reported. There have been 5,102 reported deaths.
Key Political and Economic Developments
A second case of EVD has been confirmed in Mali, as a nurse who was working in a private clinic in Bamako has died from the disease. She had treated a patient from Guinea who died from EVD at the end of October. Contact identification has started in the clinic; 28 health care workers are already identified and will be under observation. This case is not related to Mali’s first case of EVD, that of a two-year old girl that died from EVD after coming from Guinea.
The United States on Tuesday proposed that the International Monetary Fund write off some $100 million in debt it is owed by Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone to free up more resources for those countries, the hardest hit by the EVD outbreak. The debt relief should enable the three impoverished West African countries to spend more on government services and to support their economies as they cope with the epidemic, officials said on condition of anonymity. The countries now owe the IMF a combined $372 million, of which $55 million comes due over the next two years.
Liberia has announced a drop in new EVD infections. Liberian assistant health minister Tolbert Nyenswah said new cases had dropped from a daily peak of more than 500 to around 50, confirming tentative announcements by experts worldwide of an apparent slowdown in the epidemic. Mr Nyenswah added, however, that there were still new cases emerging across the country.
The Canadian government is tightening restrictions on travellers from the affected countries in West Africa by imposing self-monitoring and quarantine measures. The policy announced Monday applies to all travellers from the affected countries. But because Canada had already stopped issuing visas to residents and nationals of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, the policy will mostly apply to returning healthcare workers and international staff who work for humanitarian aid groups.
The UNMEER ECM in Liberia, Peter Graaff, attended a media roundtable sponsored by the Ministry of Information and the Press Union of Liberia. He underlined the media’s critical role in reaching out to the population to keep up behavioral changes that have slowed the rate of new infections. He also highlighted the media’s responsibility for balanced reporting, weighing the temptation of sensationalism against its potential impact.
