FREETOWN: Three more patients have tested positive for Ebola in a village in northern Sierra Leone already under quarantine after the death of a 67-year-old woman, authorities said on Tuesday.
The new cases -- bringing the total in a recent outbreak in Sellu Kafta in Kambia district to five -- were diagnosed on Monday, according to the National Ebola Response Centre (NERC).
Spokesman Sidi Yahya Tunis told reporters in the capital Freetown the three were among the 50 "high risk persons" identified as close relatives of the food trader, who died on August 28.
"The development remains a concern for us but since it has taken place within a quarantined home, it can be adequately monitored and further transmission can be contained," he added.
The west African outbreak of Ebola has killed some 11,300 people since first emerging in December 2013 in Guinea, with Liberia the hardest hit.
AFP
