WHO urges 'drastic action' on Ebola, calls 11-nation meeting

June 27, 2014 03:06

The World Health Organisation today called for "drastic action" to fight the deadliest Ebola outbreak on record, as it announced an 11-nation meeting to address the growing crisis.

As of Sunday, 635 cases of haemorrhagic fever (most confirmed to be Ebola), including 399 deaths, have been reported across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, making the outbreak the largest ever "in terms of the number of cases and deaths as well as geographical spread," WHO said.

"Drastic action is needed," the UN agency stressed in a statement, warning of the danger that the virus could jump to other countries.

Earlier this week, medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) also said the outbreak of the virus, which is deadly in up to 90 per cent of cases, was "out of control".

Since west Africa's first-ever epidemic of the deadly haemorrhagic fever emerged in Guinea in March, WHO has sent in more than 150 experts to help tackle the crisis.

Despite the efforts of the WHO and others, there has been a "significant increase" in the number of cases and deaths reported each day for the past three weeks, it said.

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