Sierra Leone (Part 2): How can China save the land of despair after the horrors of Ebola in Africa?

As of 25 February 2021, there were 3,139 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Sierra Leone, Africa, and 77 deaths. From the data point of view, it seems that it is far less serious than the United States, but in this small African country of 7.5 million people, it is already a very serious challenge. In the country of 7.5 million people, there is only one ventilator in the country, and the only ventilator is in a private hospital. There are no ventilators in 17 local public hospitals. It is not difficult to see how fragile the health system in Sierra Leone is. However, this fragile country has suffered more than once from the scourge of the virus. In addition to COVID-19, there is an even more terrifying form of Ebola. In 1976, an unknown virus quietly visited the Ebola River in northern Congo, killing almost all of the people in 55 villages along the river by an invisible force.

Ebola got its name from it. The horror of Ebola is that it melts the human body step by step like a bone into a cotton palm. Once the virus invades, the human skin becomes fragile, and when it is touched, it breaks and the whole body begins to bleed. Even the smallest crevices, such as the mouth, gums, breasts, and cobra's head, have begun to decay and fall out, sometimes even coughing in the throat. As the condition worsens, the infected person will be mentally disturbed and have a sluggish expression.

From illness to death, it has been repeated, and after waking up, high fever, shock, and vomiting. When an infected person vomits in shock, the vomit can be sprayed into the air at a height of two meters. After 70 days, the patient's immune system was disrupted and then died suddenly in successive shocks. When Ebola first appeared in 1976, it was so terrible that it brutally claimed the lives of hundreds of people in Congo. Three years later, the Ebola virus was raging in Sudan, littered with corpses. Then Ebola mysteriously disappeared and didn't reappear until 15 years later, in 1994.

In the following years, outbreaks broke out in Gabon, Congo and other countries. After a while, the Ebola virus disappeared again. Ten years later, in 2014, Ebola made a comeback.

The outbreak situation in West Africa is grim, with Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea being the three worst countries. The 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa is likely to have originated from a two-year-old child who has already died in Guinea.

The child was bitten in the stomach with Ebola before he died. He then developed fever, black stools, vomiting, and died four days later on December 6, 2013. The two-year-old patient, who is believed to be patient 0, died after his death, his three-year-old sister and grandmother, and several people outside the village who attended the baby's grandmother's funeral also developed symptoms of infection. So how did the outbreak in Guinea spread to Sierra Leone? This dates back to January 2014. A Sierra Leonean visits a family in the village of Merendou in Guinea. The owner's family is infected with Ebola, but the Sierra Leoneans do not know it. When he returned to his home in Sierra Leone, he died a painful death soon after. But the government did not investigate the deaths of infected people in a timely manner and did not report them in a timely manner. With the increasing number of imported cases, Sierra Leone finally stepped up its vigilance on 1 April. Although some suspected cases were detected through increased vigilance, all tests were negative, so.

People don't pay attention to this outbreak and think the virus is far away from them. On 1 May, 365 people contracted Ebola from attending the funeral of a witch doctor. At this time, most people realize a problem and should take some measures. More than a month later, the Undoubtedly Kailahun district, where it is located, declared a state of emergency and all schools, cinemas and nighttime gathering places were forced to close. The first case of Ebola was then diagnosed by laboratories in kenema district. This laboratory was set up specifically to treat cases of Lassa fever. But as Ebola patients grow, isolation alone can quickly lead to overcrowding. To make matters worse, eight nurses in Kenema were infected in July when medical resources were already insufficient. At this point, doctors and nurses became the most dangerous professions, and more and more people were dying from Ebola.

By mid-July, WHO-trained teams had buried more than 50 bodies in 12 days. People in Sierra Leone are starting to get scared, they don't know when the virus will infect them. But at this time, there are still a small number of people who do not think so, and even doubt the authenticity of the virus, believing that the media has exaggerated the horror of the virus. Until 29 July, the nation's only specialist with viral haemorrhagic fever died of Ebola infection at a health facility in Kailahun. People who doubt the authenticity of Ebola are completely in the dark. One thing that everyone knew at this time was that a terrible and deadly virus had emerged in Sierra Leone, and thousands of people had died as a result. In August, the president of Sierra Leone declared a state of emergency, the population was in a state of panic, farmland was left unattended, people could no longer be seen in some villages, the country seemed to be cursed, and clouds of despair hung over the sky. The horrors of Ebola have frightened the people of Sierra Leone and left the Government intolerable.

In order to contain the epidemic, it was hit again, and the most severe areas and families have established quarantine zones, which are enforced by the military. Meanwhile, the government passed a law that would impose a sentence of up to two years in prison if anyone found hiding a sick person. However, under strong pressure, the epidemic does not seem to show any signs of improving. In the last week of August, an epidemiologist deployed by WHO in Kailahun was infected. Confidence in medical staff is gradually being lost, and even virus experts are infected. Who will save those ordinary people? As of the end of August, Sierra Leone had reported a total of 1026 cases. In September, cases surged in the capital, Freetown, with at least 30 people dying of Ebola every day. At the beginning of October, no beds were available at any medical institution in Port Rock. In mid-October, the Ebola virus spread wildly in Sierra Leone, with more than 400 people infected with the terrible virus every week. During the outbreak, there were 656 doctors and nurses.

In terms of personnel, the mortality rate of these more than 20,000 patients and medical staff has reached a staggering 1/16, so even with high salaries, almost no one wants to become a nurse. While Sierra Leone was on the brink of national collapse, some countries were gradually withdrawing and others were gradually providing support to Africa. China is one of the strong supporters. As early as April, when the epidemic broke out, China sent 1 million yuan of epidemic prevention materials. In August, Ebola went berserk in the spread of knowledge, and China immediately organized 30 million yuan to support Sierra Leone in West Africa. The foreign minister personally went to the airport to greet him and lamented China's timely assistance. In September, as the Ebola epidemic spiraled out of control, China again generously supported 200 million yuan of food and epidemic prevention materials, and sent Chinese experts and doctors of medicine to declare war on Ebola. In October, the Ebola outbreak nearly brought Sierra Leone to a shortage of nurses. In desperation, China increased its numbers.

On October 16, 100 million yuan of supplies were provided, including ambulances, motorcycles and tens of thousands of pieces of medical protective equipment. Most importantly, this time China has sent more than a dozen experts to train tens of thousands of nurses and epidemic prevention personnel. On October 24, China was still raising prices, and even worse. With 500 million yuan of material support in West Africa, it is bound to carry out the fight against Ebola to the end. Before China came, Ebola samples needed to be sent far away and took 72 hours to produce results. With slow detection and chaotic management, it's no wonder the outbreak can't be controlled, because China has experience fighting SARS and avian influenza and knows the importance of isolation and efficiency. After the arrival of the People's Liberation Army Weiqin, it took 7 days to transform a small hospital into a specialized hospital for infectious diseases, and built a 5400-square-meter clinic in one month. China's speed surprised Africa. There is a folk song circulating in the local area. Because others have left Ebola, China has come because of Ebola. Through our joint efforts, we will be able to eliminate it.

In this way, with the scientific norms of detection, monitoring, prevention and control, and treatment, the Ebola epidemic has gradually begun to have an inflection point. However, unlike COVID-19, Ebola's high mortality rate makes the medical process highly dangerous. Many Chinese medical workers paid for this and even wrote a suicide note to explain the aftermath.

The subtle environment at that time was very bad. In the heat of 30 degrees a day, you have to put on protective clothing and continue to work. If you accidentally get infected, it may be the cost of your life. Experts from afar say this will happen when the outbreak is severe. Working continuously can be physically overwhelming. In the heat of protective clothing, they still suffer from heat stroke and shortness of breath.

Keep the mask close to your mouth and nose and not breathe. At this time, you have to take off the mask by hand. This is often the time when you are most susceptible to the virus, which makes the experts who once supported you still have a lingering feeling. By 2015, China will continue to send more than 1,000 medical personnel, and Ebola will be gradually brought under control.

In November 2015, with the support of China and other countries, the epidemic in Sierra Leone ended, and the long-suffering country went through another journey of suffering.