UN official says deadly Ebola outbreak ‘winning the race’

The United Nations has expressed grave concern over the deadly Ebola outbreak, saying the world is falling behind in the desperate race with the epidemic.

The head of the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER), Anthony Banbury, said the recent international efforts are not enough to stop the viral disease.

Briefing the UN Security Council meeting from Ghana, Banbury said the current facilities are not enough to cope with the growing number of Ebola cases across the world.

“Ebola got a head start on us,” he said. “It is far ahead of us, it is running faster than us, and it is winning the race.”

Banbury said he is “deeply worried” that the steps implemented by the international community are “not nearly enough” to halt the advance of the fatal disease.

He called for more efforts to fight the virus by setting up more treatment units and recruiting more medicine workers.

“We either stop Ebola now or we face an entirely unprecedented situation for which we do not have a plan,” Banbury noted.

“There’s much bad news about Ebola but the good news is we know how to stop it,” he added.

Banbury warned that the world response to the Ebola crisis must meet critical goals by Dec. 1 to ensure about 7,000 treatment beds and 500 specially equipped burial teams “or face an entirely unprecedented situation for which we don’t have a plan.”

Speaking at the end of a meeting with US and allied military leaders, US President Barack Obama also declared that “the world is not doing enough” to contain Ebola.

With no proven treatment and no vaccine, the epidemic could reach 5,000 to 10,000 cases per week by the first week of December, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The latest death toll from the outbreak, first reported in Guinea in March, has reached to 4,447 from 8,914 recorded infection cases, according to the WHO. The three hardest-hit countries are Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.