August 16, 2014
Spokesman Gregory Hartl said in Geneva Friday that the flood of patients to newly opened treatment centers shows that the outbreak's size is far larger than official counts show. WHO said Thursday that recorded death and case tolls may "vastly underestimate the magnitude of the outbreak."
Hartl said that an 80-bed treatment center opened in Liberia's capital in recent days filled up immediately. The next day, dozens more people showed up to be treated.
According to WHO figures, the outbreak, which began in Guinea and has spread to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, has killed more than 1,060 people and sickened nearly 2,000.
It is time to quarantine this area of any travel, except, for essential medical personnel. The medical treatment facilities are overwhelmed. Humanitarian relief needs to replace the economy that obviously will fail without tourism and trade.
August 15, 2014
It is time to quarantine this area of any travel, except, for essential medical personnel. The medical treatment facilities are overwhelmed. Humanitarian relief needs to replace the economy that obviously will fail without tourism and trade.
August 15, 2014
Geneva: The Ebola crisis in west Africa (click here) is outstripping the ability of aid organisations to stem the epidemic, the head of international medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said Friday, likening it to a war.
"It is deteriorating faster, and moving faster, than we can respond to," Joanne Liu told reporters a day after returning from a 10-day mission to the hard-hit region.
"It is like war time. There is fear," she said.
"It's moving, and advancing, but we have no clue how it's going. Like in a war time, we have a total collapse of infrastructure," she added.
The outbreak started at the beginning of this year in the forested border zone between Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, and has also spread to Nigeria.
While Guinea had initially been the hotbed, the pace of the outbreak there has slowed, with concerns now focused on the other countries, notably Liberia.
"If we don't stabilise Liberia, we'll never stabilise the region," said Liu.
August 15, 2014
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) (click here) has banned athletes from west African countries affected by the deadly Ebola virus from competing in some events at the Youth Olympics, starting in China this weekend.
The IOC released a statement on Friday saying that while there were no suspected cases, organisers had decided to bar three athletes from competing in combat sports and events in the pool as a precaution.
"We have been reassured by the health authorities that there have been no suspected cases and that the risk of infection is extremely unlikely," the statement read.
"Together we have developed a policy which balances the health needs of all, with respect for the rights of the young athletes from the region."
The IOC said the decision to ban some athletes from competing had been made in conjunction with the organising committee from Nanjing under the guidance of the World Health Organization....
