2014-09-09 10:38:00

Liberia braces for mass increase in Ebola cases


(Vatican Radio) The World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday warned that many thousands of new infections are expected in Liberia in the coming weeks, the latest in what is the largest Ebola outbreak on record.

The Ebola virus has spread from Guinea to Sierra Leone, Liberia, Nigeria and Senegal and killed more than 1,500 people. At least 3,500 people have been infected, more than half of them in Liberia.

United Nations Police in Liberia are working with the Liberian National Police to respond to the outbreak, where the government has declared a state of emergency.

In the United States, Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia has said in a news release that a person who had contracted the disease was expected to arrive in Atlanta on Tuesday. The patient is the fourth American to be treated for the disease in the US. Last month, two aid workers who contracted Ebola while working in Liberia were treated successfully at Emory. Another patient, an American doctor, is being treated in Nebraska.

Meanwhile, the US and Britain plan to send military personnel to help contain the Ebola outbreak. US President Barack Obama said Sunday that the military would help to set up isolation units and provide security for public health workers responding to the outbreak. Britain will open a 62-bed treatment center in Sierra Leone in the coming weeks.

Currently, there are about 570 beds in Ebola treatment centers in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, the hardest-hit countries. WHO says nearly 1,000 more are needed, especially in Liberia.








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