NEW YORK/GENEVA: Global experts issued stark new warnings of the scale of West Africa’s Ebola outbreak on Tuesday, with the US government estimating between 550,000 and 1.4 million people might be infected in the region by January.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said its projection was based on data from late August and did not take into account a planned US mission to fight the disease, so the upper end of the forecast was unlikely.
However, it followed research by experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) and Imperial College, which estimated that 20,000 people risked infection within six weeks — months earlier than previous forecasts. It warned that the disease might become a permanent feature of life in West Africa.
Categories: Africa