CONAKRY, Guinea (AP) – Relatives of Ebola victims are transporting their bodies on public transportation in Guinea, seating the corpses upright between other passengers to skirt health controls and contributing to the spread of the deadly disease here, authorities said.
The Ebola epidemic began in Guinea and, instead of being snuffed out as officials had hoped, at least 27 new cases have occurred in a week’s time, marking a significant spike.
Bodies of Ebola victims are highly contagious, yet the health recommendations to not touch bodies at funerals go against hundreds of years of tradition here. Family members still want to give their loved ones traditional burials to prepare their souls for the afterlife, and some even try to transport the bodies to their home villages if they died elsewhere.
“It is regrettable that some families with the help of transport providers are dressing up cadavers and seating them upright between other passengers in a taxi as though the person is still living when in fact it’s sometimes the body of someone who has died from Ebola,” said police Capt. Claude Onivogui. “Every day we are finding bodies in these conditions, and that’s what is spreading the contagion.”
The latest Ebola figures from the World Health Organization are the highest in Guinea in more than a month and come just as the country hoped the outbreak was finally coming under control. Neighboring Liberia has been declared Ebola-free and Sierra Leone registered only eight cases during the same time period.