WHO says it is focusing on 15 African countries to stop spread of disease,
as EU reviews its screening policies.
Last updated: 16 Oct 2014 19:14
Focus countries
Ivory Coast, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Senegal, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon,
CAR, DR Congo, Gambia, Ghana, Mauritania, Nigeria, South Sudan and Togo.
The WHO has said it is focusing its attention on 15 countries to prevent the
spread of Ebola, as the EU announced a review of its entry policies and the
disease was reported in the last untouched area of Sierra Leone.
Dr Isabelle Nuttall, the WHO's global director, said on Thursday that cases
were doubling every four weeks and that health officials were trying to
prevent the disease spreading from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, the
worst-hit nations, to neighbouring countries and those with a strong travel
and trade relationship.
Nuttall said: "The objective is to stop the transmission from occurring in
these countries. They may not have a case but after one case we don't want
more. These countries need to be better prepared.
"This week we will cross 9,000 cases of Ebola and 4,500 deaths. The outbreak
continues to hit health workers hard. So far 427 health care workers have
been infected with Ebola and 236 have died."
The statement came as Sierra Leone reported two infections in the northern
area of Koinadugu, the last untouched district in the country, despite
strict safety precautions and limited contact with the rest of the country.
The EU also announced that it was reviewing its screening controls for
airline passengers leaving west Africa.
After an emergency meeting of EU health ministers, EU health chief Tonio
Borg said the WHO and the EU would look into "conflicting reports" about
whether the screening in Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea was good enough.
As alarm grew outside Africa over the disease's potential spread, an Air
France plane was isolated at Madrid after a male passenger who had travelled
from Lagos in Nigera reported a fever and shivers.
The 163 passengers and crew were kept aboard the plane until the passenger
was taken to hospital. The Spanish health ministry said it was treating the
incident as a suspected case of Ebola.
The man was one of four suspected cases of the disease in Spain.
In the US, meanwhile, disease control officials admitted they had allowed a
nurse to fly home after treating an Ebola victim. She later fell ill with
the disease.