TheCable

The Ebola outbreak currently ravaging four West African countries will continue for some time, the World Health Organisation has said.

Since February when the virus broke out, at least 1,069 people have been killed in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. Four of the deaths occurred in Nigeria.

A minimum of 1,975 cases have been recorded in all.

Appraising the health crisis, the United Nations agency says the reported figures are an underestimation of the severity of the outbreak, and the much-awaited end to Ebola will take a while to come.

“The outbreak is expected to continue for some time,” the WHO said in a statement.

“Staff at the outbreak sites see evidence that the numbers of reported cases and deaths vastly underestimate the magnitude of the outbreak.”

It did not provide figures of unreported cases, but said it was working closely with the four countries to gather more intelligence from the ground.

“WHO is mapping the outbreak, in great detail, to pinpoint areas of ongoing transmission and locate treatment facilities and supplies,” it said.

“It’s also working with other agencies, including the World Food Programme, to feed about 1 million people quarantined in villages in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.”

Fabienne Pompey, spokeswoman for the World Food Programme (WFP), said the WFP team is not in direct contact with Ebola quarantine and treatment centres, but only delivers food to the medical staff, who are in charge of the distribution.

Meanwhile, health officials in the four affected West African countries are stepping up their desperate measures to contain the virus.

In Nigeria, minister of health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu, has already confirmed that Ebola patients will receive Nano Silver, which the United States Environmental Protection Agency certifies as a “pesticide” rather than a “drug.