SIXTY DAYS TO BEAT EBOLA, UNITED NATIONS WARNS If the deadly outbreak cannot be reined in by Christmas then the UN says there is no plan in place and it could be overwhelmed. The UN says the ebola outbreak must be controlled within 60 days or else the world faces an unprecedented situation for which there is no plan. The United Nations made the stark warning as it warned that the disease is running faster than us and it is winning the race. Nearly 9,000 cases of ebola have been reported so far in West Africa, including 4,447 deaths. The WHO advises within 60 days we must ensure 70% of infected people are in a care facility and 70% of burials are done without causing further infection, said Anthony Banbury, the UNs deputy ebola coordinator. We need to do that within 60 days from 1 October. If we reach these targets then we can turn this epidemic around. But Mr Banbury told the UN Security Council the 70% target was becoming harder to meet as new infections stack up. He urged: We either stop ebola now or we face an entirely unprecedented situation for which we do not have a plan. The UNs Unmeer emergency mission is following a four-pronged plan to fight ebola. Identify and trace contacts; manage cases; ensure safe burials and provide people with information to protect themselves. If we fail at any of these, we fail entirely, warned Mr Banbury. The World Health Organisation (WHO) earlier said there could be 10,000 new cases of ebola per week within two months. WHO assistant director general Bruce Aylward told a news conference the total was expected to top 9,000 by the end of this week. He said the death rate from the current outbreak had risen to 70% from about 50%. When asked how the situation could develop in the next two months, he warned: We anticipate the number of cases occurring per week by that time to be somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 per week.
Posted on: Wed, 15 Oct 2014 11:49:27 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015