Water bucket sellers hawk their wares as the public buy them to try to protect them selves from the deadly Ebola virus in Monrovia, Liberia, Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2014. The price of buckets has increased as Liberian people are encouraged to wash their hands after filling it with disinfectant to prevent the spread of the deadly Ebola virus. The World Health Organization has begun an emergency meeting on the Ebola crisis, and said at least 932 deaths in four African countries are blamed on the virus, with many hundreds more being treated in quarantine conditions. (AP Photo/Abbas Dulleh)
August 06, 2014 - 4:27 PM
MONROVIA, Liberia - Liberia's president has declared a state of emergency in the West African nation amid an Ebola outbreak that shows no signs of slowing.
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf made the announcement on national television late Wednesday, saying that some civil rights may have to be suspended as a result of the crisis.
Observers say the crisis in Liberia has deepened because many people are choosing to keep their ill relatives at home instead of bringing them to isolation centres.
The disease that has killed at least 282 people in Liberia alone is spread through contact with the bodily fluids of Ebola patients showing symptoms.
In her speech, Sirleaf said that "ignorance and poverty, as well as entrenched religious and cultural practices, continue to exacerbate the spread of the disease."
News from © The Associated Press, 2014