MOSCOW, October 8 (RIA Novosti) – The bodies of dead Ebola victims are being left on the streets in Sierra Leone because of striking burial services workers, Associated Press reported Wednesday citing local media.
The gravediggers in Sierra Leone have gone on a strike over non-payment of their work.
The country's Health Ministry spokesman Sidie Yahya called the situation "very embarrassing" and reassured that money was available to pay the burial teams.
The current outbreak of Ebola, the worst yet, started in southern Guinea at the end of 2013 and consequently spread to Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Senegal. A separate outbreak, unrelated to the one in West Africa, is taking place in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
There is currently no officially approved medication for the Ebola virus, although Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Japan are currently working on vaccines.
The death toll of the Ebola epidemic is currently approaching 3,500. The World Health Organization (WHO) predicts 20,000 new cases of the Ebola virus disease (EVD) in West Africa by November.
