WHO Predicts 10,000 Ebola Cases Weekly Without Swift Action
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iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — The World Health Organization warned Tuesday that unless the Ebola outbreak in West Africa isn’t immediately contained, there could be as many as 10,000 new cases per week by December.
The only way to reverse the worst outbreak of the disease since it was first discovered in 1976 is to isolate 70 percent of the cases within two months, according to WHO assistant director-general Dr. Bruce Aylward.
Since last March, 4,500 people have died from Ebola with the number of current cases at 9,000, although that figure could be well underestimated.
Complicating matters is that the death rate from the disease, which was originally 50 percent, has now risen to 70 percent.
The hardest hit countries are Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, and the WHO is especially concerned of how Ebola continues to spread in each nation’s densely-populated capital.
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