KEY POINTS
Special Envoy Nabarro visited Liberia, meeting with President Sirleaf and key partners.
UNHCR has established an Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) isolation center in a refugee camp in Kouankan, Guinea.
UNICEF noted a reduction in resistance in some rural communities in Guinea.
Key Political and Economic Developments
The UN Special Envoy on Ebola, Dr. David Nabarro, made a visit to Liberia. He met with President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, as well as the US ambassador, UNMEER staff and key EVD response partners. Coordination of partners in the EVD response, a focus on rapid reaction and contact tracing, and the need not to become complacent were among the topics discussed.
The World Bank said Tuesday that EVD is costing the three most affected countries more than US$ 2 billion, as the virus causes their economies to slow down or shrink. The bank sharply revised down its 2014 and 2015 economic growth estimates for Sierra Leone and Guinea, but said the outlook for Liberia was improving slightly. For 2015, it now forecasts Sierra Leone's economy will shrink 2.0%, down from a 7.7% growth forecast in October and 8.9% before the crisis. Guinea will shrink 0.2% versus October's estimate of 2% growth and a pre-outbreak forecast of 4.3%. In Liberia, where there are signs of progress and increasing economic activity, the bank increased its 2015 GDP growth estimate to 3.0%, up from 1.0% in October, but still less than half the pre-crisis estimate of 6.8%.
With more than half of its population already under lockdown, Sierra Leone has now quarantined a sixth district. Tonkolili, in the centre of the country, was added to the growing list of districts which no one is allowed to leave or enter without special dispensation, in an effort to combat the outbreak. The northern districts of Port Loko and Bombali were closed off indefinitely in September, along with the southern district of Moyamba - effectively sealing in more than one million people. With the eastern districts of Kenema and Kailahun also under quarantine, more than half of the population of six million, in six of the nation's 14 districts, now finds itself unable to move freely. Tonkolili is expected to end its quarantine on December 15, according to health ministry officials.