How the Ebola Outbreak Spread Across West Africa

Created by Simon Johnson - Twitter: @simon_b_johnson - Updated by Jade Dickinson - Twitter: @Jade_Dickinson1 - Sources: The Wire, Wikipedia, Local Government

Time line

FebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOct15/01/2014

Confirmed Deaths and Cases - 15/01/2014

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GuineaLiberiaNigeriaSierra LeoneNigeriaLiberiaGuinea

15/01/2014

Believed to be the month of origin of this outbreak, when the virus infected its first host and incubated.

15/02/2014

First cases of Ebola are reported in Guinea.

22/03/2014

Guinea's Ministry of Health notifies the World Health Organization of an outbreak of Ebola, in forested areas in the south-east.

25/03/2014

After suspected cases arise throughout its rural districts of Guekedou, Macenta, Nzerekore, and Kissidougou, the government of Guinea officially reports an outbreak of Ebola. Suspected cases are also reported in Liberia and Sierra Leone. Guinea enlists Doctors without Borders to establish Ebola treatment centers throughout the affected regions.

27/03/2014

The virus reaches Guinea's capital of Conakry, the most populated—the city is home to 2 million people—site the outbreak has affected so far. The Bernhard-Nocht Institute of Tropical Medicine in Hamburg, Germany, and the Institut Pasteur in Dakar, Senegal, join the efforts of Institut Pasteur in Lyon, France, testing samples. Researchers confirm the virus is a strain of Ebola that had originally been discovered in Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo) in 1976.

29/03/2014

The virus is confirmed to have reached Liberia.

31/03/2014

More international organizations arrive in the region: The International Red Cross, Pentecostal Mission Unlimited, and Samaritan's Purse set up to spread awareness campaigns and distribute protective equipment. The W.H.O. leads the international response, and the C.D.C. sends a five-person team to help.

01/04/2014

Guinea reports its first case of Ebola in the Djingaraye district, much farther north compared to the previously reported districts, indicating a new outbreak origin point.

07/04/2014

The number of fatalities crosses 100 people, with 95 deaths in Guinea, and 7 in Liberia. Some of the cases include infected health workers.

27/05/2014

The number of fatalities reaches 200 people, with 186 deaths in Guinea, 9 in Liberia, and 5 in Sierra Leone—the first deaths reported in the country. The WHO and CDC confirm that the country's Kailahun district is the outbreak's hot spot, while laboratory testing begins in the city of Kenema.

28/05/2014

For the first time, cases are reported from the counties of Boffa, Boke, and Dubreka in western Guinea, covering a new region of the country.

02/06/2014

The first suspect case is reported in Liberia since April 9, and investigations begin to contain yet another outbreak point. The stretch of time between the reports in Liberia exceeded the 21 days for Ebola to incubate.

18/06/2014

The number of fatalities crosses 300 people, with 264 deaths in Guinea, 24 in Liberia, and 49 in Sierra Leone.

08/07/2014

The number of fatalities crosses 500 people, with 307 deaths in Guinea, 84 in Liberia, and 127 in Sierra Leone.

18/07/2014

The number of suspected cases crosses 1000, with 1048 people reached.

22/07/2014

A Liberian official dies after landing in Lagos, Nigeria, the most populous city so far, with 21 million inhabitants. The death initiates a series of red alert responses from the country (now the fourth African country to include a case of Ebola), which increases surveillance at all ports of entry. Follow-up work begins in Togo, where the official's plane had also landed on its way to Nigeria.

23/07/2014

The number of fatalities reaches 672 people, with 319 deaths in Guinea, 129 deaths in Liberia, and 224 deaths in Sierra Leone. In Sierra Leone, the leading doctor fighting the outbreak is reported to have been infected as well, after having treated more than 100 victims in the country.

25/07/2014

Street protests occur in Kenema, Sierra Leone, resulting in police firing tear gas into the crowds that threatened the city's hospital. The protestors had planned to burn down the hospital and eradicate the virus—an approach that would not at all have prevented further outbreaks. Instead, the W.H.O. reports Guinea experiencing a surge in cases indicates further undetected chains of transmission.

26/07/2014

The first death occurs in Sierra Leone's capital city of Freetown, and a leading doctor in Liberia succumbs to the virus.

27/07/2014

The first Americans are infected in the outbreak. Both are health workers.

28/07/2014

Nigeria suspends flights to Liberia and Sierra Leone for its largest air carrier, Arik Air.

29/07/2014

Nigeria's Asky Air follows Arik and suspends flights to Liberia and Sierra Leone. The airline will screen passengers flying out of Guinea. Meanwhile, Liberia has suspended all soccer-related activities, as sweat is a bodily fluid that could allow for Ebola transmission. And according to the BBC, Dr. Sheik Umar Khan, the leading Ebola doctor in Sierra Leone who contracted the virus on July 23rd, has died: "Dr. Sheik Umar Khan, who has lead Ebola fight in Sierra Leone, dies after contracting the virus." The New York Times also reports that Liberia has announced the closing of all schools. The country's nonessential government workers will go on compulsory leave for 30 days, and more security will carry out an action plan to fight the outbreak.

30/07/2014

Peace Corps temporarily pulls 340 volunteers from Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea, after two American Peace Corps volunteers were found to have been exposed to the disease. Later that day, Sierra Leone, more than two months after the first cases appeared in the country, declares a health emergency over the outbreak. President Ernest Bai Koroma calls for the deployment of security forces to quarantine epicenters of infection, as well as the cancellation of his planned visit to the U.S. From the New York Times: "Public meetings will be restricted, houses will be searched for infected people, Parliament will be recalled and top officials will be obliged to cancel all but essential overseas travel. These measures will initially be implemented for a period of 60 to 90 days, Mr. Koroma said, and subsequent measures will be announced as and when necessary." The total number of cases, according to the WHO, stands at 1,323 people, with 729 deaths.

04/08/2014

Nigerian authorities confirm a second case of Ebola in the country, prompting a quarantine of eight others who may have come into contact with Patrick Sawyer, the Liberian-American man who died after landing in the Lagos airport. Meanwhile, Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City said it is testing a patient who traveled from a West African country for Ebola. Still, there's no need to panic: Ebola doesn't spread through the air, and it's easily contained in sanitary conditions.

07/08/2014

There are now four ‘no go zones’ in Liberia.

12/08/2014

Guinea-Bissau’s Prime Minister declares its border with Guinea closed

20/08/2014

The death toll from Ebola in West Africa reaches 1,350, according to the WHO.

26/08/2014

The Nigerian government orders all schools to remain closed until October.

31/08/2014

Health workers go on strike, citing lack of equipment, at the Kenema health clinic in Sierra Leone

03/09/2014

The WHO's director-general, Margaret Chan, announces that the Ebola epidemic has killed more than 1,900 people.

07/09/2014

Sierra Leone announces a nationwide shutdown, starting on the 19th September and lasting for 72 hours.

10/09/2014

The Gates Foundation pledges $50 million to support the effort to contain Ebola.

15/09/2014

President Obama is set to announce plans on Tuesday to send 3,000 troops to Liberia to oversee building new treatment centres and help to train medical staff.

22/09/2014

The shutdown in Sierra Leone ends.

25/09/2014

UN holds high-level event on Ebola virus disease outbreak

28/09/2014

Liberia's chief medical officer places herself under a 21-day quarantine after one of her assistants dies from Ebola.

01/10/2014

Health officials in Dallas begin to identify those who could have had contact with the U.S.'s first Ebola patient.

05/10/2014

There have now been more than 8,000 reported cases of Ebola in the current outbreak.

08/10/2014

The White House announces that at five US airports, new screening measures for Ebola will be introduced for passengers travelling from West Africa.

12/10/2014

Healthcare worker in Dallas becomes the first person to contract Ebola in the U.S.

17/10/2014

The WHO officially declares that the outbreak of Ebola in Senegal is over.

20/10/2014

The WHO officially declares that the outbreak of Ebola in Nigeria is over.