Ebola: Death toll rises to 1,552

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa has taken 1,552 lives out of 3,069 known cases in four countries and “continues to accelerate”, the World Health Organisation said on Thursday.

Reuters quoted WHO in a statement issued ahead of launching its new strategic plan for tackling the world’s worst Ebola outbreak.

“More than 40 per cent of the total number of cases had occurred within the past 21 days. However, most cases are concentrated in only a few localities,” the health body said.

A separate Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, identified as a different strain of the virus, is not included in the latest figures which cover Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, it said.

On Thursday, the Nigerian government confirmed the death of a patient in Rivers state.

This raises the number of Ebola deaths in the country to six.