The first center in Monrovia was only meant to treat 25 people but had about 80 patients as of Friday, said Assistant Health Minister Tolbert Nyenswah. The new center will have 120 beds but may eventually be tripled in size because of the ongoing crisis.
Isolating Ebola patients is critical to slowing the spread of the disease, as sick people can transmit it through their bodily fluids such as blood, sweat or urine. There is no licensed treatment or vaccine for the disease, which has killed at least half of its victims this year.
New figures released yesterday showed that Liberia now has recorded more deaths, 413, than any of the other affected countries.
Health workers treating Ebola patients on the front lines of the crisis have borne the brunt of the fatalities. Sierra Leone's president, Ernest Bai Koroma, told journalists yesterday that his country has lost two top doctors and 32 nurses.