NEW YORK – The team from the newly established UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER) arrived in Accra on Monday.
UN Secretary-General’s Spokesperson, Stephane DuJarric, disclosed this to newsmen in New York.
He said the team, led by Head of UNMEER, Anthony Banbury, was to provide operational framework and leadership to ensure rapid, effective and coherent action necessary to stop Ebola outbreak.
This, he said, would include treating the infected, reinforcing essential services and taking action to ensure the disease would not spread to countries currently unaffected.
The Spokesperson said Banbury, who is also UN Secretary-General Special Representative, would travel to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone to access the situation.
The UN Security Council declared the Ebola outbreak in West Africa as a threat to peace and security.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced that the UN would deploy a new emergency health mission to combat one of most horrific diseases on the planet that had shattered the lives of millions.
UNMEER has its headquarters in Accra with offices in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
NAN reports that the UN has launched a Website on the UN system’s global response to the outbreak.
NAN further reports that in its latest update, WHO reported 6,553 cases and 3,083 deaths from Ebola as of Sept. 23 based on information provided by the Ministries of Health of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. [eap_ad_1] The WHO had earlier said it needed foreign medical teams with 500 to 600 experts as well as at least 10,000 local health workers.
In a report released by the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 1.4 million persons could be infected with Ebola by the end of January if actions were not taken to stop the spread of the deadly virus in West Africa.
In a report released on Tuesday, the centre said the astonishing figure was the result of the CDC taking into account the under-reporting of Ebola cases.
According to the most recent numbers, the CDC also expected about 21,000 total cases of the disease would have occurred in Liberia and Sierra Leone by Sept. 30.
The CDC said cases doubled about every 20 days in Liberia and every 40 days in Sierra Leone. (NAN)
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