The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned West Africa may face up to 10,000 new Ebola cases per week within two months, due to the increasing number of patients.
With a reported death rate of 70%, the Ebola death toll has reached 4,447 out of the reported 8,900 cases in West Africa. The majority of victims are from the three hardest-hit nations: Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.
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WHO assistant director general Dr Bruce Aylward was quoted by Associated Press saying that the UN health agency was still focused on trying to get sick people isolated and provide treatment as early as possible.
Aylward also added that if the world’s response to the Ebola crisis is not improved within 60 days, ‘a lot more people will die’ and health workers will be stretched even further.
Ivory Coast, Mali and Guinea-Bissau are some of the nations at high risk of importing the disease, noted Aylward.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced plans to provide specialised diagnostic equipment to help Sierra Leone in its efforts to combat an ongoing Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak.
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By GlobalDataIAEA will provide diagnostic technology known as Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) to diagnose the disease quickly.
IAEA director general Yukiya Amano said: "Transfer of nuclear-related technologies is a key part of the agency’s work, and we have cooperated with member states for years to develop and strengthen their capacity to use this nuclear-derived technology."
Image: Ebola virus virion. Photo: courtesy of CDC/Cynthia Goldsmith.
