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Ebola patient flees clinic in search of food

A video has emerged of an Ebola patient seemingly being chased through a busy market in Liberia a...
Newstalk
Newstalk

14.36 2 Sep 2014


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Ebola patient flees clinic in...

Ebola patient flees clinic in search of food

Newstalk
Newstalk

14.36 2 Sep 2014


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A video has emerged of an Ebola patient seemingly being chased through a busy market in Liberia after escaping a treatment centre.

It shows him resisting attempts to force him back to the facility before he's bundled into the back of a van.

There were chaotic scenes as crowds followed the infected man, who was wearing a wristband to show he had tested positive for the disease, and some stallholders argued with him as he approached.

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The patient escaped from Monrovia's Elwa hospital, which last month was so crowded with cases of the deadly disease that it had to turn people away.

One woman at the scene said: "The patients are hungry, they are starving. No food, no water. The government needs to do more. Let Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf [the President of Liberia] do more."

Vincent Martin of the FAO added: "Even prior to the ebola outbreak, households in some of the affected areas were spending up to 80% of their incomes on food.

"Now these latest price spikes are effectively putting food completely out of their reach."

Nearly 700 people have died from the Ebola virus in Liberia, one of the countries affected by a widespread outbreak of the disease across West Africa.

At least 1,552 people have been killed by the current ebola outbreak, with 3,062 patients infected overall, according to the latest figures from the World Health Organization.


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