LONDON: At least 2,622 people have died in the worst outbreak of Ebola virus in history, which has so far infected at least 5,335 people in West Africa, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.
In an update on the epidemic, which is raging through Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia and has spread into Nigeria and Senegal, the WHO said there were no signs yet of it slowing.
“The upward epidemic trend continues in the three countries that have widespread and intense transmission — Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone,” the United Nations health agency said.
It added that a surge in Ebola in Liberia is being driven primarily by a continued increase in the number of cases reported in the capital, Monrovia.
Meanwhile, Liberia’s president has welcomed promised US military aid to fight Ebola, saying she hopes it spurs the international community into further action.
President Barrack Obama announced Tuesday he will order 3,000 US military personnel to West Africa to help contain the disease. The US is also planning 17 treatment centers of 100 beds each in Liberia.
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf called that commitment significant and said she hopes it will only be the beginning.
“We hope this decision by the United States will spur the rest of the international community into action,” she said in a statement read by a spokesman.
She said the world community has a stake in ending the outbreak that’s affected five nations.
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