Ebola vastly underestimated – WHO

The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Friday, expressed concern over the “vastly underestimated” scale of the Ebola outbreak as the death toll from the disease reaches 1,069.

The European Correspondent of NAN in London reports that WHO in a statement said it had evidence that the number of reported cases and deaths do not reflect the scale of the crisis.

“Staff at the outbreak sites sees evidence that the numbers of reported cases and deaths vastly underestimate the magnitude of the outbreak.

“WHO is co-ordinating a massive scaling up of the international response,” the statement said.

According to the statement, extraordinary measures are needed to check the diseases as the outbreak is expected to continue for sometime.

“Part of the challenge is the fact that the outbreak is in settings, characterised by extreme poverty, dysfunctional health systems, a severe shortage of doctors and rampant fear,” the statement said.

The agency however warned that the risk of transmission of Ebola during air travel remained untrue, as the disease is not airborne.

NAN reports that the outbreak which began in Guinea in February and has since spread to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria.
The disease has claimed the lives of four people who had contact with Patrick Sawyer, a Liberian official who died 25 July in Lagos.

So far 21 people who have had contact with an Ebola victim have been quarantined in Enugu.