Ebola outbreak: World Health Organisation brands virus a world crisis as the global death toll continues to rise

THE Ebola virus has been branded a world crisis by the World Health Organisation as it continues to cause devastation across west Africa, killing hundreds in its wake.

New York Times / Redux / eyevine
People are checked for their temperature and other possible symptoms of Ebola at a checkpoint in Sierra Leone.

THE killer ebola outbreak will get worse before it gets better, health chiefs admitted yesterday, as it was
declared an international emergency.

At least 961 people have died from the virus and 1779 have been infected since it took hold in February. The toll is expected to soar and World Health ­Organisation director general Margaret Chan said: “It is moving faster than we can control.”

The worst epidemic in almost 40 years has hit people in west African countries Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. But after a summit in Switzerland, the WHO said the chance of a further international spread was “particularly serious” due to the strength of the virus.

They branded the crisis a world emergency.

Chan added: “If we do not in global solidarity come together to help these countries, they will be set back for many years.”

Head of health security Keiji Fukuda warned the outbreak could be “at a high level for a number of months” and added: “The likelihood is things will get worse before they get better.”

Ebola, which causes severe dehydration through vomiting, bleeding and diarrhoea, has no proven cure and there is no vaccine to stop infection.

Liberia is now under 90-day emergency powers which let police and troops impose ­quarantines on affected ­communities.

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