Via the Daily Observer: Liberia’s Ebola Death Tolls Hits 3,376: WHO. Excerpt and then a comment:

The World Health Organization (WHO) has recorded that as at December 18, Liberia’s Ebola death toll has reached a reported figure of 3,376, making it the highest recorded death yet from the disease.

WHO yesterday said 19,340 infections have now been reported, including 7,518 deaths. Sierra Leone has had the highest number of cases since early December, which is at 8,939 as of Dec 20. However, Liberia has the highest number of deaths, of which 3,376 have been reported as of Dec 18.

Following his meeting with President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf recently, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Tom Frieden, MD, MPH, has given his impression to US journalists about his second tour of all three of the hardest-hit Ebola outbreak countries.

Dr. Frieden said yesterday that sobering challenges remain in the response but that real progress and momentum have occurred in the region since his last visit in August and September.

What bothers me about this report is that the numbers cited by the Daily Observer (in a December 24 WHO report) are those from a December 23 report that had no new Liberia numbers more recent than WHO's December 18 report. The report makes no mention of this lag time, which has now become chronic for Liberia.

Before Liberia updated to the 18th on December 22, it had reached December 14—when the deaths had reached 3,346. So we know that 40 Liberians (at least) died between Sunday the 14th and Thursday the 18th of last week. That was five days ago (six in Liberia).

This is like an echo of Haiti's dreadful reporting of cholera, where different parts of the country send in the numbers when they feel like it, and no one has complained or explained for four wretched years.

WHO owes Liberia the strongest, most professional support it can provide. But WHO also owes the rest of the world an equally professional accounting of Liberia's problems, and this persistent lag in reporting is one of them.

Maybe it's due to some critical absence, like trained people in rural districts. Or something as banal as lack of gas money for motorcycle couriers. Whatever the reason, the chronic lag time in Liberia's reporting raises doubts about everything else in Liberia's response—including the cheery news of empty beds in all those Ebola care units.