‘No light at end of tunnel’ as ebola spreads

Except for Christmas Day Masses, Christians in Sierra Leone observed a quiet Christmas in their homes, after the Government banned all public festivities over concerns they would escalate the ebola epidemic.

The Government had announced a five-day lockdown in the north of the country starting on 25 December. Sierra Leone infections surpassed those in Guinea and Liberia, totalling more than 9,200 out of a World Health Organisation figure of more than 19,600 infected. By 27 December more than 2,000 people had died of the virus out of a death toll in the region of more than 7,500.

Fr Luigi Brioni, a Xaverian missionary in Sierra Leone, said on Christmas Eve the situation in the country was still tragic despite all the government promises. “Many international organisations have come to help, but still there is no light in the end of the tunnel,” Fr Brioni said. President Ernest Bai Koroma banned New Year festivities including night church watch services.