Clashes in Sierra Leone over the removal of an Ebola victim’s body

NEW YORK – Fears over Ebola Virus are running at full steam in Sierra Leone. The dead body of a woman, suspected to have died of the deadly disease in the capital city, was not removed as fast as local residents wanted. Covered with just a sheet of plastic, the corpse of a suspected Ebola victim lay on the dirt in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone.

A woman suspected of having the deadly virus sat nearby.

Residents in Sierra Leone are furious over the government’s slow response to properly bury the body, and this has led some residents to clash with police.

Local law enforcement officials have urged residents not take matters into their own hands, but to call the local emergency number to ensure medical teams can be deployed in such cases.

Eventually, crews from a Red Cross burial team arrived to remove the body.

Locals say their calls for help have not been heard, and that the body has been sitting for two days.

Ebola Outbreak Winning Race

The Ebola outbreak is “winning the race” against attempts to contain it, the head of the United Nations mission working to stop the deadly virus warned the Security Council today as he urged the international community to help expand on-the-ground efforts across the affected nations in West Africa.

In his briefing, Anthony Banbury, head of the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER), told the 15-nation Council that he is “deeply worried” that the steps implemented by the international community are “not nearly enough” to halt the advance of the fatal disease.

“Ebola got a head start on us,” he said. “It is far ahead of us, it is running faster than us, and it is winning the race. If Ebola wins, we the peoples of the United Nations lose so very much…,” he said.

“We either stop Ebola now or we face an entirely unprecedented situation for which we do not have a plan,” Mr. Banbury told the Council via video link from the operation’s headquarters in Ghana.

In its most recent situation report on the disease, the UN World Health Organization (WHO), which is leading the wider UN response, reported 8,376 cases and 4,024 deaths from Ebola based on information provided by the Ministries of Health of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, whose UN delegations were represented at today’s Security Council briefing.

Sierra Leone is at the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak hitting West Africa, which has killed nearly 4,500 since March.

VIDEO by Reuters