SANNIQUELLIE, Nimba County – Nimba County officials provided new information to residents on issues concerning the recent Ebola developments. Fong Zuaglay, superintendent of Nimba County, and Collins Boah, the county health coordinator, spoke on Radio Nimba’s live talk show, “Wake-up Nimba.”

The two officials serve as co-chairs on the county’s Ebola Taskforce Committee. The committee was initiated by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in August 2014.

Boah revealed that for the past 43 days, there has not been new cases of Ebola within the county. Also speaking on the issue, Zuaglay said that although Liberia is on the verge of being free of the disease, citizens need to be conscious of possible outbreaks.

His statement comes after new reports confirmed at least 15 cases of Ebola in the neighboring town of Lola, Guinea in addition to outbreaks in the Greater Monrovia area.

The officials also used the occasion to urge every citizen to report any dead bodies or sick persons in their communities to health workers or to the Ebola Task Force Committee. They cautioned that particular attention should be paid to those coming from across the border. The officials assured citizens that thermometers were being used at all border points to check people coming in and out as a measure of preventing the re-occurrence of the disease.

Likewise, they noted that the county would be conducting testings of the dead to determine whether Ebola was the cause of death. All reported dead bodies would have saliva samples taken to the lab for testing.  Each test takes five hours, and if results show that the corpse was positive with Ebola, the taskforce will conduct the burial. However, for negative tests, bodies would be turned over to families for traditional burials.

Featured image courtesy of Flickr’s Jbdodane