West Africa – Ebola Outbreak Fact Sheet #14, Fiscal Year (FY) 2015

The lockdown limits population movements, closes markets and shops, restricts public gatherings, and prevents all travel not related to the EVD response. The Northern Province comprises Bombali, Kambia, Koinadugu, Port Loko, and Tonkolili districts. A USAID/OFDA partner, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), opened a new EVD treatment unit (ETU) in Liberia's Sinje town, Grand Cape Mount County, on December 29. The Sinje ETU has an initial 10 beds and will significantly aid relief actor efforts to address the county's high EVD caseload. USAID/OFDA partner Global Communities conducted the first ten burials at Liberia's new national cemetery on December 24. Safe and dignified burials are a vital component of the EVD response in Liberia, according to health actors. The number of suspected, probable, and confirmed EVD cases in acutely affected countries has reached 20,171, according to the U.N. World Health Organization (WHO) as of December 31, 2014. The number of EVD-related deaths has reached 7,890. Liberia has reported 8,018 EVD cases, Sierra Leone has reported 9,446 cases, and Guinea has reported 2,707 cases. Mali has reported 8 EVD cases. In Liberia, EVD response actors continue efforts to monitor and mitigate ongoing EVD transmission in Montserrado and Grand Cape Mount counties. While Montserrado continues to report the highest number of cases in Liberia, CDC has identified hotspots in four of Grand Cape Mount's five districts. From December 4-24, the Government of Liberia (GoL) reported 18 confirmed cases in the county, placing it second only to Montserrado in the number of confirmed cases per county during that time period. CDC continues to deploy field teams to Grand Cape Mount to support the county health team efforts. A DoD-supported construction team completed an ETU in Nimba County's Ganta town and handed it over to USAID/OFDA partner Project Concern International (PCI) on December 27. PCI expects to open the facility in early January. Once open, the ETU will serve EVD patients from Nimba, located in northeastern Liberia and bordering both Guinea and Côte d'Ivoire. In addition to EVD treatment, PCI is also providing support to patients' families and EVD survivors reintegrating into their communities through a team of eight psychosocial counselors. In Sierra Leone, the GoSL declared a five-day lockdown in Sierra Leone's Northern Province on December 25. The lockdown limits population movements, closes markets and shops, restricts public gatherings, and prevents all travel not related to EVD response activities. Relief organizations and U.N. agencies continue to expand surge activities and EVD response capacity in Sierra Leone's Western Area by increasing the availability of beds, training surveillance officers and other response staff, and evaluating IPC conditions. The USAID/OFDA-supported Lunsar ETU operated by the International Medical Corps (IMC) provides triage activities, trains health care workers, and admits suspected, probable, and confirmed EVD cases. The ETU has 53 operational beds and has treated 43 confirmed EVD patients and discharged 10 EVD survivors since opening on December 1.