WASHINGTON: More than 1,900 people have now died of Ebola in west Africa, the World Health Organisation said on Wednesday, warning the world’s worst-ever outbreak of the virus is still gathering pace.

Global health experts have stepped up their warnings in recent days that world leaders need to do more to address the epidemic, which is most prominent in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

The outbreak of Ebola, transmitted through contact with infected bodily fluids, has sparked alarm throughout the region but also further afield, with scientists scrambling to come up with treatment.

“As of this week, we are reporting 3,500 cases confirmed in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia and more than 1,900 deaths — and the outbreak is rising,” WHO chief Margaret Chan told reporters in Washington.

The latest toll represents a significant increase from the 1,552 deaths and 3,069 cases reported by the Geneva-based organization just days ago.

The number of deaths also is higher than the total fatalities in all previous outbreaks combined.

Chan said she hoped that the global response to the health crisis would soon bear fruit, especially in the hardest-hit countries.

“With this international response, coordinated response, the money is coming, the technical experts are coming, so we hope to stop the transmission in six to nine months,” Chan said.

Her agency has previously said at least $490 million would be needed to bring the outbreak under control, by which time over 20,000 people could be affected.

But David Nabarro, the senior UN system coordinator on Ebola, said that total costs could rise even higher.

It will cost at least 600 million dollars — maybe a lot more — to get the necessary support to the countries, to get the situation under control, Nabarro told reporters in Washington.

Published in Dawn, September 4th, 2014