Ebola outbreaks hits many African economies in the region

Many African economies have been badly hit by the Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa, with the tourism industry, the mainstay of many countries the worst hit, as travelers reconsider trips as far removed as Kenya and South Africa, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Fear of the virus has gripped tourists to the continent, highlighting once again, the risks some associate with travel to Africa. The worries had been inadvertently amplified by anxious African governments pushing draconian measures to keep the virus from breaching borders.

Though government tourist boards and trade associations had issued statements in a bid to address concerns, but according to operators they were still getting anxious phone calls, fewer bookings and abrupt cancellations.

Barry Hurter, the chief executive of South Africa's ERM Tours, a Thai insurance company that had booked a trip to Cape Town to reward its biggest earners canceled the trip for 1,500 people, the report said.

Hurter said though he had explained that there was currently no Ebola in South Africa, and Cape Town was a long way from West Africa, it cut no ice with the insurance company.

Meanwhile, Kenya, which has spectacular wildlife reserves, said it would block anyone coming from Sierra Leone, Guinea or Liberia from entering the country, starting yesterday.

The ban would exclude Kenyan citizens and health workers who were part of the effort to contain the Ebola outbreak.

Meanwhile, Liberia yesterday battled to stop the spread of the Ebola disease in its capital Monrovia, recording the most new deaths as fatalities from the world's worst outbreak of the deadly virus rose to over 1,200, Asiaone News reported.

The epidemic of the h1emorrhagic disease, capable of killing up to 90 per cent of those it infected, gripped three small West African states of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. It also had a toehold in Nigeria, Africa's biggest economy.

As the Geneva-based World Health Organisation rushed to boost the global response to the outbreak first detected in March, including emergency food deliveries to quarantined zones, it announced that deaths from the outbreak had increased to 1,299 as of 16 August, out of 2,240 cases.

Between 14-16 August, Liberia recorded the most new deaths, 53, Sierra Leone was next with 17 and Guinea followed with 14.

According to the WHO, it was working with the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) to ensure food delivery to 1 million people living in Ebola quarantine zones cordoned off by local security forces in a border zone of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.