UN: Number of ebola cases to double every 3 weeks

The number of ebola cases in West Africa could start doubling every three weeks and could end up costing €770m to contain the crisis, the World Health Organisation warned yesterday.

Even as US President Barack Obama was expected to announce the deployment of 3,000 American troops to help provide aid in the region, Medicines Sans Frontiers told the UN health agency that the global response to ebola was falling far short of what is needed.

“The response to ebola continues to fall dangerously behind,” Joanne Liu, president of the medical charity, told a UN meeting in Geneva. “The window of opportunity to contain this outbreak is closing. We need more countries to stand up, we need greater deployment, and we need it now.”