Saturday, November 22, 2014

EBOLA OUTBREAK: We Can End Ebola Outbreak In 2015 – Ban


United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon

The deadly Ebola outbreak can be ended “by the middle of next year” if the world speeds up its response, United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, has said.

But he warned that although the rate of new cases was slowing in parts of West Africa, Mali – where six people have died – was now of deep concern.

And the head of the UN Ebola mission, Anthony Banbury, said the world was “far away” from beating the virus.

The BBC reports that Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia have been worst hit by the Ebola outbreak.

More than 5,400 people have died in those three countries, along with a handful of others in Nigeria, Mali, Spain and the United States.

In a separate development, Liberian police said all the country’s beaches would be closed from 29 November until Liberia was declared free of Ebola.

In a statement, the police said anyone using the beach in violation of the order would be prosecuted.

Speaking at a meeting in Washington with officials from the World Health Organization (WHO), World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Mr Ban said: “If we continue to accelerate our response, we can contain and end the outbreak by the middle of next year.”

Meanwhile, the death toll in the Ebola epidemic has risen to 5,459 out of 15,351 cases identified in eight countries by the end of November 18, the WHO said on Friday.

Reuters says the figures showed an increase of 39 recorded deaths and 106 new cases since those issued on Wednesday.
“Transmission remains intense in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone,” the WHO said, referring to the hardest-hit countries.

No comments: