Ebola: Guinea to quarantine 816 people after latest flare up

Guinea has said it has traced about 816 people who may have come in contact with victims of the disease or their corpses during a recent flare-up. 

The recent flare-up occurred in a village in the Southeastern part of Guinea. 

Health official in the country has on Thursday said it had discovered new cases of Ebola few hours after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared neighbouring Sierra Leone’s latest outbreak over. Four people have died in the flare-up in Porokpara.

Fode Tass Sylla, spokesman for the coordination unit, said: “Since the start of the tracing on Saturday, we have traced 816 contacts in 107 families."

“We are optimistic because everyone is motivated and cooperating.

"The villagers will be quarantined in their homes for 21 days, after which time, if they have not developed symptoms, they will be released," Sylla said.

Ebola is estimated to have killed about 2,500 people there by December last year when the WHO announced an end to active transmission in the country.

More than 28,600 people have been infected and 11,300 have died since the onset of the epidemic in December 2013.

The World Health Organization continues to warn that there is an increased risk of flare-up due to the ability of the virus to remain in individuals who have been previously treated of the disease.