New measures to contain threat as Ebola death count passes 4,000

As the Ebola outbreak’s death toll climbed north of 4,000 deaths out of 8,000 cases, authorities around the world are realising the potential dangers of the virus. Advanced screenings began at New York’s JFK airport on Saturday. In Spain, a crisis committee has formed to prevent the spread of the disease and panic after a nurse in Madrid became the first person outside Africa to become infected. Canada advised its citizens to leave the west African countries hardest hit by Ebola, while taking measures at its own borders to screen for potentially exposed travellers.

We have to work now so that it is not the world’s next AIDS.

CDC Director Tom Frieden, in a warning to the World Bank Thursday.

While the U.S. military is rushing to set up a 25-bed hospital to treat health workers who may contract Ebola, the countries hardest hit by the outbreak are asking for money. United Nations countries pledged US$1 billion in aid, but have only delivered a quarter of that total so far. It’s a crucial point for Africa, as an international envoy estimates that Ebola cases are doubling every three-to-four weeks, and urges a response 20 times greater than it was at the beginning of the month.

It will be impossible to get this disease quickly under control, and the world will have to live with the Ebola virus forever.

David Nabarro, the U.N. special envoy for Ebola