Liberia's government announced on Friday that it is slated to lift an Ebola quarantine on a large slum in the capital city, 10 days after attempts to close off the neighborhood from the rest of the city led to deadly clashes and fueled doubts about President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf's handling of the outbreak, The New York Times reported.
Residents of West Point became free to go out and about starting Saturday at 6 a.m. The army, which had supported the quarantine and took the lead in enforcing it in the first two days, will be removed from the neighborhood.
But a nationwide curfew, from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., will remain in place, Lewis Brown, the minister of information, told The New York Times.
"This was a tool intended to help the community to help themselves and get the help they desperately need," Brown said in a telephone interview with the newspaper. "We're pleased with the way that the community has owned up to this."
The quarantine was ordered by the president on Aug. 20, as he rejected the advice of worldwide Ebola experts and the country's own health officials who said that such a far-reaching quarantine, especially one led by the military, would be unmanageable and could cause the disease to spread ever further. The quarantine led to battles between security personnel. A 15-year-old boy caught in the midst of the violence died after being shot in both legs.
Many residents of West Point bribed soldiers and police officers so they could sneak out of the neighborhood. Prices of food and other basic goods have doubled, causing living conditions in the slum to degrade further.
Hundreds of West Point residents gathered on its main road to celebrate the announcement of the quarantine lifting on Friday. Soldiers were no longer stationed at checkpoints and only a light police presence remained.
