Ebola deaths spiral as crisis dubbed ‘unparalleled in modern times’, UN says

The unprecedented Ebola outbreak in West Africa requires a $1 billion response to keep its spread within the “tens of thousands” of cases, United Nations officials said today. The virus has killed 2,461 people, half of the 4,985 infected by the virus, and the toll has doubled in the last month, World Health Organization Assistant Director General Bruce Aylward said. “Quite frankly, ladies and gentlemen, this health crisis we’re facing is unparalleled in modern times,” Aylward told a news conference in Geneva. “We don’t know where the numbers are going on this.”

The amount for which we requested was about $100 million a month ago and now it is $1 billion, so our ask has gone up 10 times in a month. Because of the way the outbreak is advancing, the level of surge we need to do is unprecedented, it is massive.

Dr. David Nabarro, senior U.N. coordinator for Ebola

He said the WHO’s previous forecast that the number of cases could reach 20,000 no longer seemed a lot, but the number could be kept within the tens of thousands with “a much faster response”. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will launch a “global response coalition” in New York on Thursday, said Dr. David Nabarro, senior U.N. coordinator for Ebola. The U.S. announced on Tuesday it would send 3,000 troops to help tackle the outbreak as part of a ramped-up response including a major deployment in Liberia, the country where the epidemic is spiralling fastest out of control.

The response to Ebola continues to fall dangerously behind. The window of opportunity to contain this outbreak is closing. We need more countries to stand up, we need greater deployment, and we need it now.

Joanne Liu, president of medical charity Doctors Without Borders

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