Update | Mali records first Ebola case as 2-year-old girl dies: officials
West African nation Mali announces the death of infant girl whose mother earlier succumbed to the disease in Guinea as fears over the spread of the deadly disease grow
A two-year-old girl who was Mali’s first case of Ebola died on Friday, shortly after the World Health Organisation warned that many people had potentially been exposed to the virus because she was taken across the country while ill.
The girl had travelled with her grandmother hundreds of kilometres by bus from Guinea via Mali’s capital to the western town of Kayes, where she was diagnosed on Thursday. Health workers were scrambling to trace hundreds of potential contacts in a bid to prevent Ebola taking hold in Mali.
The worst Ebola outbreak on record has killed 4,900 people, mainly in nearby Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. A global response to the epidemic is being rolled out but experts warn that tens of thousands more people are at risk.
In a statement on Friday night, Mali’s government confirmed the death of the girl, who has not been identified.
“Today is Friday so let us pray to Allah that this disease will not spread in Mali.”
“In this moment of sadness, the government would like to express its condolences to her family and reminds the population that maintaining very strict hygiene rules remains the best way to contain this disease,” it said.