More than 20,000 people may be infected with the Ebola virus before the outbreak in West Africa is controlled, warns the World Health Organization. As we noted previously [4], they believe the costs to fight this epidemic will be $490 million (higher than the previous $430 million estimate) as Bloomberg reports [5] the WHO roadmap released today warns "The 2014 Ebola virus disease outbreak continues to evolve in alarming ways." So far, the virus has infected more than 3,000 people, making it the biggest outbreak ever, and has killed more than 1,550. It’s on a pace to cause more deaths than all previous outbreaks combined.
More than 20,000 people may be infected with the Ebola virus before the outbreak in West Africa is controlled and curbing the epidemic will cost at least $490 million, according to a World Health Organization plan.
The number of people falling ill is accelerating, with more than 40 percent of the infections happening in the past 21 days, the Geneva-based United Nations agency said in an e-mailed statement today. In some areas, the number of cases may be two to four times higher than reported, the WHO said in a separate document, a so-called road map that lays out the plan to deal with the situation.
[6]
“The 2014 Ebola virus disease outbreak continues to evolve in alarming ways,” the WHO said in the road map released today. Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone are “struggling to control the escalating outbreak against a backdrop of severely compromised health systems, significant deficits in capacity and rampant fear.”
...
The WHO’s cost estimate is up from $430 million in a draft of the road map reported by Bloomberg News this week.
* * *
One potential trajectory of the outbreak based on current growth...
[7]
h/t Reginald B
* * *
Lastly, we noted yesterday that Africa GDP was estimated to drop 4% on the 3,000 infected cases so far... [8]one can only imagine the carnage to the nations' economies if the cases hit 20,000...
