“That’s the main purpose, to take immediate action,” he said.

A draft Security Council resolution, proposed by the United States, calls on member states to provide assistance, including medical personnel and field hospitals, and urges countries in the region to lift travel restrictions and keep borders open. The resolution says the spread of Ebola in Africa “constitutes a threat to international peace and security,” and follows President Obama’s announcement on Tuesday that the United States was preparing to offer medicine, equipment and up to 3,000 military personnel as part of the effort to curb the virus.

It was not immediately clear how an increased United Nations presence in the most afflicted countries — Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea — would give the organization more power to contain the crisis. But Mr. Ban said it would emphatically signal that places ravaged by Ebola are not pariahs to be shunned and avoided — a message he has sought to reinforce in his conversations with other world leaders.

“There is a huge psychological panic and fear that nobody wants to go in,” he said. “So we have to give some sense of assurance that there is full protection and support by the international community.”

Asked when the new mission would start, he said. “It should not take a couple of months, it should take a couple of weeks.”