Ebola cases are surging in Sierra Leone as it suffers from a lack of treatment centers, the United Nations said Thursday, while lack of food and basic goods is forcing some people to leave quarantine areas. The U.N. Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER) said in its weekly report that 1,062 people have died in Sierra Leone from the virus, particularly in the western areas around the coastal capital of Freetown. The World Health Organization (WHO) said Wednesday that a total of 4,818 people have died from the epidemic and said that the number of cases was still on the rise in Sierra Leone, though it was stabilizing in neighboring Guinea and slowing in Liberia. UNMEER said Thursday that Sierra Leone has 288 beds spread across four Ebola treatment centers (ETCs) treating 196 confirmed cases of the disease as of November 2. But the mission said that it suspects an average of 50 percent of cases of the Ebola virus disease (EVD) is not being reported across Sierra Leone. According to UNMEER, a total of 1,864 beds were needed by December, while 10 new ETCs are currently planned with a capacity of 1,133 beds. "An additional 731 safe beds need to be planned, secured and made available by the first week of December," UNMEER said. "Lack of available beds in ETCs is forcing families to care for patients at home, where caregivers are unable to adequately protect themselves from EVD exposure, thereby increasing transmission risk."
