The latest update from the World Health Organization (WHO) on the Ebola virus presents a mixed picture of the fight to contain the epidemic. To date, more than 5,100 people have died from the virus and health authorities confirm that the virus has returned to Mali and spread to Sierra Leone.
The world’s worst Ebola outbreak has therefore already killed 5,160 people and infected 14,098 in eight countries. In Sierra Leone, where 1169 people have died, the number of cases continues to increase. In the first week of November alone, 421 new cases were recorded. As for Mali, which thought it had succeeded in eradicating the disease, it must face up to its second infected patient and died while two other deaths could be attributed to the virus. One of the suspected cases, a grand imam, was buried after a “ritual washing” and funeral which was held in the presence of “many mourners”, says the WHO.
Clinical trials of treatments start next month
However, as a glimmer of hope, the WHO announces that the rate of transmission of the virus is no longer progressing at the national level in Guinea and Liberia, although certain regions are still particularly affected. The organization also announces that clinical trials of the treatments will begin in West Africa next month.
In this latest update, the WHO announces that it has received less than half (49%) of the 260 million dollars it deems necessary to manage the epidemic.
Of 4611 hospital beds planned in Ebola treatment centers in the three most affected West African countries, only 24% are operational. And only 4% of the approximately 2,636 beds planned in community care centers have been set up.
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