Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone
announced an isolation zone sealing off the
epicentre of the world's worst-ever Ebola
outbreak, where the three countries meet.
"We have agreed to take important and
extraordinary actions at the inter-country level
to focus on cross-border regions that have more
than 70% of the epidemic," said Hadja Saran
Darab, the secretary-general of the Mano River
Union bloc grouping the West African nations.
"These areas will be isolated by police and
military. The people in these areas being isolated
will be provided with material support."
The announcement came at the end of an
emergency summit, also attended by Ivory Coast
and the World Health Organisation, to launch a
$100m response to an epidemic which has killed
more 700 people.
"The healthcare services in these zones will be
strengthened for treatment, testing and contact
tracing to be done effectively.
"Burials will be done in accordance with
national health regulations. We agreed to
provide our health personnel with incentives,
treatment and protection so they could come
back to work."
Darab did not outline the exact area to be part
of the isolation zone, but the epicentre of the
outbreak spreads from Kenema in eastern Sierra
Leone to Macenta in southern Guinea, almost
300km away.
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