Highlights
• As of 21 December, the cumulative number of confirmed, probable and suspected cases of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in Sierra Leone is estimated to have reached 8,939 with a total of 2,190 deaths. An estimated 1,259 people have been discharged from treatment.
• There have been little or no cases in Bonthe, Pujehun,
Kenema and Kailahun districts for more than 21 days, while the Western Area continues to report more cases than the rest of the country.
• As of 17 December, 11,337 children have been identified as being directly affected by the Ebola Crisis, including 5,135 children having lost one or both parents to EVD, an increase of 630 since the previous report. As of 16 December, 373 children have died from Ebola, while 575 have survived.
• UNMEER’s response to the surge continues in the Western Area of Sierra Leone, which officially began on 17 December. In preparation, UNMEER coordinated airlifts of critical supplies to Freetown.
• Under the coordination of UNMEER, THW (German Federal Agency for Technical Relief) purchased 240 additional hospital beds in Accra. These beds will be used to augment 3 key ETCs (Military, PTS1 and PTS2) to provide ‘convalescent’ bed capacity to quickly free up beds in ETCs.
• Wages have improved, notably in the South East region, as the lowland rice harvest continues. Nonetheless, wage rates in eastern districts, at 10,000 leones/day, remain 8% to 20% below those reported in other areas of the country.
• Sierra Leone plans to ban parties and other festivities over the Christmas and New Year's holidays. The government has indicated that it will deploy soldiers across the country to enforce the measure.
• The Sierra Leonean National Ebola Response Centre (NERC), with UNMEER support, has for the first time made hazard payments to Ebola Response Workers (ERWs) using mobile money. This cycle of hazard payments will be made from 15 December to 19 December through a consortium of private sector partners, namely Airtel, Africell, and Splash Money.
