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Ebola toll passes 4,000 as fears grow worldwide

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US officials launch review of Ebola procedures

Dr Bruce Aylward,

World Health Organization

assistant director general at the WHO headquarters in Geneva. (Reuters Photo)

How quickly Ebola spreads compared to other diseases http://t.co/ciXVPDnsGW pic.twitter.com/A6ey8wVm4c — Washington Post (@washingtonpost) October 14, 2014

LONDON: In the most ominous warning till date over the Ebola outbreak, the World Health Organisation estimates that there could be up to 10,000 new infections from the deadly disease per week within two months.What's worse, the death rate in the current Ebola outbreak has increased to 70%.WHO assistant director general Dr Bruce Aylward said that if countries don't step on the gas in containing the spread of the dangerous virus over the next 60 days, "a lot more people will die with a spiraling number of cases - up to 10,000 cases per week in two months".According to Aylward, in the last four weeks, there have been about 1,000 new cases per week.The warning comes a day after WHO director general Margaret Chan confirmed that the present Ebola outbreak is the "most severe acute health emergency in modern times".According to her, the epidemic has proved that "the world is ill-prepared to respond to any severe, sustained and threatening public health emergency".In a statement, she said "I have never seen a health event threaten the very survival of societies and governments in already very poor countries. I have never seen an infectious disease contribute so strongly to potential state failure".Meanwhile Britain's largest airport - Heathrow began screening passengers for Ebola from Tuesday.Health secretary Jeremy Hunt announced on Monday that passengers from at-risk countries will have their temperature taken, complete a risk questionnaire and have contact details recorded.Screening at Gatwick and Eurostar terminals would start in the coming week.Hunt said he anticipated the expected figures of those getting infected with the virus in UK to be below double figures for the next three months.As of today, there have been 4,033 confirmed deaths and 8,399 confirmed, probable and suspected cases of Ebola recorded in seven countries, although widespread transmission is confined to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.This number is doubling every three to four weeks. The UN has declared the outbreak an international public health emergency.