Officials of the World Health Organisation (WHO), have said the crisis brought about by the Ebola outbreak is “vastly underestimated.”
Statistics revealed by the UN’s health agency indicate that as many as 1,069 deaths have bee caused by the deadly disease across West Africa.
The World Health Organisation said its members of staff have come across evidence that the numbers of reported cases and deaths do not appropriately capture the scale of the crisis that the Ebola virus disease has caused.
In a statement, WHO said “extraordinary measures” are required to stem the tide of the vicious virus ravaging countries in West Africa at a lightning speed.
The outbreak, which began in Guinea around late February, has quickly spread to other countries like Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria.
However, the WHO said the risk of transmission of Ebola during air travel remained low, as the disease is not airborne and as a consequence, Kenya Airways has rejected pressure to suspend its flights to the Ebola-hit states of West Africa.
The WHO said the outbreak is expected to continue “for some time”.
“Staff at the outbreak sites see evidence that the numbers of reported cases and deaths vastly underestimate the magnitude of the outbreak,” its statement said.
“WHO is co-ordinating a massive scaling up of the international response.”
Part of the challenge was the fact that the outbreak was in “settings characterised by extreme poverty, dysfunctional health systems, a severe shortage of doctors and rampant fear”, the WHO added.
