The Ministry of Health has broken its silence to deny reports that the deadly Ebola virus, which wreaked havoc on the county years back, has emerged once again.
The Ministry, in a release noted that the report of such was not just a lie but a conspiracy theory designed to instill fear in people and cause confusion.
The Ebola virus, a biosafety level four pathogen, is an RNA virus discovered in 1976, and the outbreak in Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone, resulted in the death of thousands of people from 2014 to 2015 when cases were active.
Dr. Wilhelmina Jallah, Liberia’s Minister of Health, laments the despicable motive of those disseminating such fabricated stories and warns of severe ramifications under the public health law of Liberia.
The Ministry’s response comes just as reports emerged that the Ebola virus has hit Sinoe County, which is one of the hardest to reach and poorest counties in Liberia. The Daily Observer has however not been able to independently verify the claim, which surfaced on Facebook over the weekend.
The Ministry’s quick reaction, which is expected to be followed by a detailed press conference today, comes from the background of Ebola’s impact on the country from 2014 to 2015.
More than 11,000 in Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone died from the virus, and above 28,000 people were affected. The first cases of the virus were reported in Liberia in March 2014, from Lofa County, and quickly spread among 15 political subdivisions.
It affected virtually every sector of the country and exposed its weak health systems, which collapsed under the pressure of the epidemic. This happens as Liberia also badly suffers from other deadly diseases, like malaria and tuberculosis, which were mostly ignored during the outbreak.