Infected Corpses Abandoned On Sierra Leone’s Streets As Workers Strike Over Pay

The Ebola crisis in Sierra Leone is said to have worsened as burial teams have gone on strike leaving corpses of infected victims on the streets of the capital, Freetown.

According to the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation, the bodies were being left in homes and in public after the workers complained about being owed hazard pay for more than a week.

Deputy Health Minister, Madina Rahman reportedly said during a radio interview today, October 8:

“The health ministry is going to investigate the delay in the health workers not receiving their money,”

The spokesperson for the ministry, Sidie Yahya Tunis also described the situation as being “very embarrassing”

Corpses of Ebola victims are highly contagious and account for a large number of infections.

The disease has killed over 3400 people in West Africa with Sierra Leone and Liberia suffering the worst casualties.