In this photo taken Thursday Nov. 20, 2014, Kissi Dembadouno, center, is comforted by relatives outside his home in the Guinean village of Meliandou, some 400 miles (600 kms) south-east of Conakry, Guinea, believed to be Ebola’s ground zero. Demnadouno lost his wife, daughter and two grandchildren to the deadly disease. He is Etienne Ouamouno’s father in law. The first reported case of Ebola is Etienne’s son, Emile, who passed away late Dec. 2013. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — Dozens of new Ebola cases have erupted in Liberia, near the border with Sierra Leone, Liberian health officials warned Monday, marking a setback amid recent improvements.
The flare-up is due to a number of factors including people going in and out of Liberia and traditional practices such as the washing of bodies, said Liberia’s Assistant Health Minister Tolbert Nyenswah.
Forty-nine cases were reported in in western Grand Cape Mount County between December 1 and 25, Nyenswah told state radio.
“In a very small population, an increase in the number of (Ebola) cases raises high level of concerns that we need to take very seriously as people of Liberia and people of Grand Cape Mount in particular,” he said.
Nearly 3,400 people have died from Ebola in Liberia over the past year with nearly 8,000 cases total, though health officials say the situation has improved, especially in the capital, Monrovia.
Sierra Leone, in comparison, has now eclipsed Liberia with more than 9,000 Ebola cases, according to the World Health Organization.