The death toll from the current Ebola outbreak in West Africa has risen to 1,427, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Friday, according to dpa. The Geneva-based organization said 2,615 suspected or confirmed cases had been reported in the region. Between Tuesday and Wednesday, 142 new suspected and confirmed Ebola cases as well as 77 deaths were reported from Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, according to WHO. The magnitude of the Ebola outbreak has been underestimated because families hide infected relatives in their homes. Because Ebola has no cure, some people infected with the virus preferred to die at home, WHO said in a statement. This was especially the case in Liberia and Sierra Leone, where stigma and social rejection related to Ebola are massive. Some West Africans continue to deny Ebola exists, while others believe isolation wards are incubators of the disease, according to WHO. Ebola-affected countries lack staff, supplies and equipment, including personal protective equipment, WHO said. Hospital and diagnostic capacities in the region have been overwhelmed. Numerous treatment centres and clinics had closed because medical staff had fled out of fear of being infected. In Liberia's capital, Monrovia, and other areas virtually all health services had shut down, WHO said. New treatment facilities immediately fill with patients, which suggests that many more people have symptoms than are being counted by health workers, according to WHO. In Monrovia, an Ebola treatment centre opened last week with 20 beds and was immediately overwhelmed with more than 70 patients, WHO said. The reported described "shadow-zones" - villages where residents resist health workers' investigations, or that cannot be accessed due to lack of staff and vehicles. Many rural villages continued to bury the dead without notifying health officials. Ivory Coast became the latest African country Friday to restrict travel as a result of the Ebola outbreak, closing its land borders with neighbouring Guinea and Liberia. The "exceptional decision" was valid until further notice, Prime Minister Daniel Kablan Duncan said on television. Earlier, Senegal announced a closure of its border with Guinea. "This measure also applies to air and maritime borders, to planes and ships coming from Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia," Interior Minister Abdoulaye Daouda Diallo was quoted by the Senegalese Press Agency as saying. Security and defence forces will ensure "rigorously" that the order is implemented, he said. Many African countries have restricted air, land and water travel in the region, causing a significant impact on their economies and on food security, according to the World Food Programme. Senegal's decision comes shortly after South Africa issued a travel ban for non-citizens arriving from Ebola-hit countries. South Africans coming from Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone or Nigeria are to be questioned and medically examined if necessary, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said. The widow of a Liberian-American who brought the first case of Ebola to Nigeria has apologized on behalf of her husband. Liberian government consultant Patrick Sawyer died from Ebola in late July after travelling from Liberia to Lagos. Sawyer, who collapsed on arrival at Lagos's airport, was ordered by Liberian health workers to remain under observation, after his sister had died of the virus on July 7. "I believe his actions were that of a desperate man," his wife, Decontee Sawyer, who lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, said in an email to Nigerian daily newspaper Leadership. Sawyer said she shared the pain of those infected with the virus in Nigeria and their families. Since Patrick Sawyer's death, four Nigerians have died from Ebola, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Sixteen suspected or confirmed cases have been reported, while about 190 people are under surveillance. Ebola causes massive haemorrhaging and has a fatality rate of up to 90 per cent. It is transmitted through contact with blood and other bodily fluids.
