SHOCKER FOR BURIAL TEAM: "Dead" Ebola victim turns out to be alive!

It was quite a scene on a Liberian street IN Monrovia, earlier this week when a man thought to have died of Ebola in the middle of the street was discovered to still be alive when workers arrived to pick up his body for burial.

Local community leaders said the unnamed 37-year-old had been dying from the virus in the open air for several days but ambulance workers Monrovia refused to treat him.

The man eventually stopped moving and funeral workers were called but while preparing to take him for burial they noticed he was trying to move his arms.

The incident was dramatically caught on camera by ABC News while reporter Dr Richard Besser was filming a piece to tell the story of how the man had been abandoned without medical treatment for several days.

While the recording was going on, a burial team arrived and started to spray the man with disinfectant and bleach. And as they started lifting him onto a stretcher to be placed in a vehicle, one of the funeral workers noticed he was still moving and a cry of 'He's alive' rang out.

The large crowd of onlookers broke into cheers and applause but the burial team reportedly dumped him on the floor and drove off. An ambulance however arrived later and locals pleaded that he be taken to a hospital.

According to Dr Besser, the reason why it proved so difficult to get the man to hospital was because of the chronic shortage of hospital beds for Ebola victims in the city.

 On the other hand, there is still plenty of space at Liberia's cemeteries and crematoriums, which is why it was easier for the burial team to arrive than the medical team.

ABC reporter, Dr Richard Besser