The World Health Organisation has announced that the death toll of people killed by Ebola Virus Disease has reached at least 2,917.
According to the global health body, the casualty figure is driven by the continuing rapid spread of the disease in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
The New York Times reported that the UN agency made the announcement on Thursday.
At least 2,909 people have died in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, with 6,242 reported Ebola cases overall, according to the latest report of the United Nations health agency. Nigeria and Senegal have recorded a total of eight deaths and 21 cases of infection.
The latest estimates of the spread of the disease follow a sombre projection by the WHO that the number of people infected by Ebola could hit 20,000 by early November, and another forecast by the United States’ Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, that the number of infections could reach 1.4 million by January.
Both projections presented worst-case scenarios, and officials of both organisations thought it probable that the scaling up of the international response would avert these outcomes.
More than half the total deaths and infections have occurred in Liberia, which reported more than 1,700 new cases in the last 21 days.
In Sierra Leone, two districts at the heart of its Ebola outbreak have recorded declining numbers of people infected, but the organisation said further investigation was needed to establish whether this was a clear trend and whether there was at the same time a sharp rise in the number of new cases in the capital, Freetown, as has been reported.
“The situation in Guinea, although still of grave concern, appears to have stabilised,” the WHO said, observing that the number of new cases in the capital, Conakry was moderate and stable.
The outbreaks in Nigeria and Senegal were “pretty much contained,” the health organisation’s Africa office reported this week, noting that Senegal had only recorded one case of infection at the end of August, and that Nigeria had not found any new cases since September 8 this year.
But seven weeks after the health organisation declared the outbreak a global health emergency, its latest report shows the capacity of treatment centres in the worst-affected countries still falling short of requirements.
According to the WHO, Liberia’s treatment centres have a total of 315 beds, putting the number of additional beds needed at 1,990, of which only 440 have so far been pledged.
Sierra Leone now has 323 beds, barely a quarter of what is needed, but identified partners have offered nearly 300 of the 829 additional beds needed, the health organization said. Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com