The
World Health Organization says there had been 163 new cases, bringing the total number
of confirmed and likely cases from the outbreak so far to 1,603
A
photograph made available 27 July 2014 shows Liberian health workers in
protective gear on the way to bury a woman who died of the Ebola virus
from the isolation unit in Foya, Lofa County, Liberia, 02 July 2014.
GENEVA, Switzerland – The World Health
Organization said Monday, August 4, the death toll from the Ebola
epidemic in west Africa has now reached 887 after 61 more fatalities
recorded at the end of last week.
Giving an update on the deadly
virus – The worst Ebola outbreak ever – the UN health agency said the 61
deaths were reported between last Thursday, July 31, and Friday, August
1, in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.
It said there
had also been 163 new cases of people infected with the virus in that
time, bringing the total number of confirmed and likely cases from the
outbreak so far to 1,603.
According to the latest WHO tally, which
includes both laboratory - confirmed and suspect cases, Guinea saw 13 new
cases and 12 deaths last Thursday and Friday, Liberia, 77 new cases and
28 deaths, while Sierra Leone saw 72 new cases and 21 fatalities. One
suspect case was also reported in that time in Nigeria.
WHO
Director General Margaret Chan has warned that the response of some of
the affected countries to the epidemic had been "woefully inadequate",
and that the outbreak has been "moving faster than our efforts to
control it".
$200 million to fight Ebola
KEEPING
CLEAN: United Nations peacekeepers from the Philippines wash their
hands to avoid contact with the deadly Ebola virus before entering a
service at the Providence Baptist Church in Monrovia, Liberia, 03 August
2014. Ahmed Jallanzo/EPA
Meanwhile, the World Bank said
Monday that it would provide up to $200 million to Guinea, Liberia and
Sierra Leone to help the West African nations contain a deadly Ebola
outbreak.
World Bank president Jim Yong Kim, himself an expert on
infectious diseases, said he has been monitoring the spread of the virus
and was "deeply saddened" at how it was contributing to the breakdown
of "already weak health systems in the three countries."
"I am very worried that many more lives are at risk unless we can stop this Ebola epidemic in its tracks," Kim said.
The
funding will help provide medical supplies, pay medical staff and take
care of other priorities to contain the epidemic and try to prevent
future outbreaks, the World Bank said.
Ebola, a form of
hemorrhagic fever for which there is no vaccine, causes severe muscular
pain, fever, headaches and, in the worst cases, unstoppable bleeding.
It
has killed around 2/3 of those it has infected since its emergence in
1976, with two outbreaks registering fatality rates approaching 90%. The death rate in the current outbreak is 55%.