The United Nations will soon set up an Ebola crisis centre to coordinate the response to the deadly virus and to strive to halt its spread in West African countries within six to nine months, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced on Friday.
Ban called on the international community to provide $600 million needed for supplies in West Africa, where Ebola has killed more than 1,900 people since March and is "spreading far faster than the response."
"The goal is to stop Ebola transmission in affected countries within six to nine months, and to prevent the international spread of the virus," Ban said. "This can be done only if the urgent and necessary mobilisation is done both in the affected countries and by the international community."
He urged airlines and shipping companies not to cancel flights and docking in the affected countries.
"Banning flights and shipping services will not keep Ebola from spreading, but it will keep medical teams from reaching people most in need," he told reporters.
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.