SAD PHOTOS: Bodies of Ebola victims lie abandoned in streets of Sierra Leone after burial teams go on strike over backlog in hazard pay

 

Bodies of Ebola victims are lying abandoned in the streets of Sierra Leone's capital it has emerged, as burial teams strike over a backlog in 'hazard' pay. 

The Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation reported bodies of those who had died from the virus were being left in homes and on the streets of Freetown.

Burial teams took strike action, complaining they had not received hazard pay for a week.

The bodies of Ebola victims have been left abandoned in the streets of Sierra Leone after burial teams took strike action over a week-long backlog in 'hazard' pay.  Pictured, a woman faints after volunteers take away the body of a woman who died from the virus in Waterloo, 30km south east of the capital Freetown. Read and see more photos after the cut>>>

 

A volunteer wearing a protective suit to spray disinfectant outside a home in Waterloo, before removing the body of a female Ebola victim from the home

The dead bodies of Ebola victims are highly contagious, raising fears more people were at risk of contracting the virus. 

Although officials today said the issue had been 'resolved', organisers of the strike action could not be reached to confirm it was over.

It was not clear if the backlog of bodies had been cleared and whether there still remains a threat to the public. 

Deputy health minister Madina Rahman told a radio programme this morning the strike has been 'resolved'.

She said the dispute centered on a one-week backlog for hazard pay, which had been deposited in the bank, but was not given to the workers on time. 

'The health ministry is going to investigate the delay in the health workers not receiving their money,' she said.

The burial teams make up a total of 600 workers organized in groups of 12, health ministry spokesman Sidie Yahya Tunis said.

Tunis described the situation as 'very embarrassing.' 

The government was already facing criticism this week over a shipping container filled with medical gear and mattresses that has been held up at the port for more than a month.

The World Health Organization says Ebola is believed to have killed more than 600 people in Sierra Leone, where there have been more than 2,100 confirmed cases

More than 3,400 people have been killed by the outbreak in West Africa, which has hit Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia hardest.

 

 

Volunteers in Waterloo, Sierra Leone are forced to bury the dead after burial teams reportedly took strike action. The country's deputy health minister said today the dispute has been resolved,

Meanwhile in Liberia, efforts have been stepped up to ensure the bodies of victims are buried as soon as possible to try and halt the spread of the virus.

The dead bodies of Ebola victims are highly contagious, and if not disposed of promptly can further spread of the virus, which has so far killed more than 3,000 people in West Africa.

Grave diggers prepare for an influx of new Ebola victims outside a treatment centre near Gbarnga in Bong County, central Liberia.

A U.S. Army soldier looks on as a burial team prepares the graves close to the 70-bed treatment centre

Scores of graves line the land outside the treatment centre in Bong County, as the Ebola epidemic takes its toll

A poignant grave marker identifies the final resting place of Ebola victim Ballah Kollie, who died on October 6

In Spain, officials said a nurse and a nursing assistant have been placed under observation for Ebola in a Madrid hospital where a colleague became infected after working with two Spanish missionary priests who contracted the disease in West Africa and later died at the centre. 

It was not known whether the two also treated the two priests or the infected colleague.

The infected nursing assistant is the first person known to catch the disease outside the outbreak zone in West Africa during the current epidemic. She is said to be in stable condition.

The woman's husband is also under observation in the Carlos III hospital while two others, a nurse and a Spanish engineer who had traveled to Nigeria, were given the all -clear after testing negative for the virus.

Spanish authorities are investigating how the nursing assistant became infected. 

They are also monitoring some 50 people who came into contact with her or also tended the two priests that died.

Health authorities in Madrid have faced accusations of not following protocol and poorly preparing health care workers for dealing with Ebola. 

Source: Daily mail