Ebola death toll reaches 7,373

Almost seven thousand four hundred people have fallen prey to the deadly Ebola epidemic in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, the three countries that have been worst hit by the disease since its outbreak in March this year, according to United Nations figures released late on Friday.

The latest data, posted by the World Health Organization (WHO), showed an increase of 500 deaths compared to statistics published by the UN health agency two days ago on December 17.

The tropical illness, characterized by flu-like symptoms and internal and external bleeding, killed 1,550 people in Guinea, 3,346 in Liberia and 2,477 in Sierra Leone, making a total of 7,373 deaths. Altogether 19,031 cases were registered across all three countries.

UN lauds health workers

Meanwhile, UN chief Ban Ki-moon praised medical personnel for fighting the Ebola virus on his trip to Liberia and Sierra Leone on Friday. Ban complimented Monrovia, which is currently holding polls for its Senate, for controlling the spread of infections, which have dropped dramatically over the past month.

However, authorities in Sierra Leone were still struggling with more than 18,000 patients who contracted the illness. President Ernest Bai Koroma recently launched "Operation Western Area Surge" to restrict travel within the country and control public gatherings in the run-up to Christmas.

While visiting an Ebola treatment center outside Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, Ban said: "We will stand with Sierra Leone until this outbreak is under control and the country has recovered from its impact."

The UN Secretary General will make his way to Guinea and Mali on Saturday before heading for Ghana, where the UN Ebola response mission is headquartered.

"Our task is to prevent Ebola becoming endemic in this region," Reuters news agency reported the UN chief as saying.

mg/tj (Reuters, AFP)