Ebola deaths pass 2,000 as Liberia shuts down contaminated police station and Sierra Leone's capital 'crumbles'

• Almost 1,000 deaths in West Africa in last month alone, according to WHO
• UN to set up Ebola Crisis Centre to stop transmission in affected countries within 6-9 months
• Death toll now stands at 2,097 across five West Africa countries
• Half the deaths have been in Liberia
• Healthcare in Sierra Leone's capital city falls apart as Ebola outbreak has made people too terrified to go to hospitals

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa has accelerated quickly with almost 1,000 deaths in the last month alone, according to the latest World Health Organisation figures.

The United Nations is establishing an Ebola Crisis Centre with the goal of stopping transmission in affected countries within six to nine months, the UN chief said, as the death toll from the outbreak surpassed 2,000 for the first time.

WHO said the number of people who have died in the outbreak has reached 2,097 across five West Africa countries, with about half the deaths in Liberia.

A man believed to be contaminated with the Ebola virus walks past a worker wearing a Personal Protection Equipment suit (PPE) today inside the high-risk quarantined zone of the John Fitzgerald Kennedy hospital in the Liberian capital Monrovia

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa has accelerated quickly with almost 1,000 deaths in the last month alone, according to the latest WHO figures. Above, women believed to be contaminated with Ebola look on as a worker carries spray in Monrovia

The United Nations is establishing an Ebola Crisis Centre with a goal of stopping transmission in affected countries within six to nine months, the UN chief said, as the death toll from the outbreak surpassed 2,000 for the first time. Above, contaminated women with the Ebola virus in Monrovia.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters after a meeting with senior UN leaders that $600million (£368m) is urgently needed for supplies to combat Ebola in West Africa.

He again urged airlines and shipping countries to lift their bans on flights and port visits so doctors, nurses, beds, medical equipment and supplies can reach those in need.

'This is a huge serious challenge,' he said. 'We are organising to meet it and I am convinced we can succeed.'

The New York-based Ebola Crisis Centre will coordinate efforts of the UN, aid organisations, governments, the private sector, financial institutions and other grass-roots groups to bring 'synergy and efficiency' to the effort to end the outbreak, he said.

Total number of probable, confirmed, and suspected cases in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone as at today (source: WHO)

A man sits in front of a preventive poster for the Ebola virus today at the entrance of a shop in Dialadian, Senegal

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters after a meeting with senior UN leaders that $600m (£368m) is urgently needed for supplies to combat Ebola in West Africa

'The number of cases is rising exponentially,' Mr Ban said. 'The disease is spreading far faster than the response. People are increasingly frustrated that it is not being controlled.'

Healthcare in Sierra Leone's capital city has 'crumbled' because the deadly Ebola outbreak has made people too terrified to go to hospitals, while some doctors are wary of treating those who do show up, a physician said.

Speaking at the launch of a public education programme in Freetown, Kwame O'Neil said patients suffering from all kinds of ailments are dying due to lack of treatment because of the outbreak fears.

WHO said the number of people who have died in the outbreak has reached 2,097 across five West Africa countries, with about half the deaths in Liberia. Above, a man contaminated with Ebola rests in a Monrovian hospital

A worker in a PPE suit uses a stick to move rubbish inside the high-risk quarantined zone of the John Fitzgerald Kennedy hospital in Liberia. Liberian officials today confirmed that a police barracks in central Monrovia was shut down after the wife of one of the officers died of Ebola

Ebola is a deadly disease for which there is no known cure and which is spread through contact with bodily fluids.

One young girl died of appendicitis when, after showing up at a hospital, a doctor there denied he was a doctor and refused to treat her, Dr O'Neil said.

Dr O'Neil also said his own aunt died after suffering a stroke and being left untreated at a hospital for two days.

Sierra Leone has recorded 1,107 confirmed cases and 430 confirmed deaths from Ebola, according to the World Health Organisation.

But the country's health ministry says most are outside the capital. The outbreak has killed about 1,900 people across five countries, according to WHO.

By contrast, the capital of neighbouring Liberia has been the focal point of the outbreak there.

Liberian officials today confirmed that a police barracks in central Monrovia was shut down after the wife of one of the officers died of Ebola.

Information Minister Lewis Brown said the officers decided to 'self-quarantine'. About 35 officers live in the barracks with their families, said Abraham Kromah, deputy director of the national police force.

Liberian Christian leaders planned to convene about 100 'prayer warriors' at a historic church in the capital to drive out Ebola, said the Rev Kortu Brown, vice president of the Liberian Council of Churches.

The event was being held at the Providence Baptist Church, where Liberia's declaration of independence was signed in 1847.

'It is where Liberia has always prayed in the past when it was confronted,' Mr Brown said.

A state of emergency in Liberia restricts public gatherings, though church services have largely continued unimpeded.

In an article published in Time magazine, Dr Kent Brantly, an American who contracted Ebola in Liberia and who survived after receiving an experimental treatment in the US, said the world needs to act.

'Ebola has changed everything in West Africa,' Dr Brantly wrote. 'We cannot sit back and say, "Oh, those poor people." We must think outside the box and find ways to help.'

Marie-Paule Kieny, WHO Assistant Director General for Health Systems and Innovation and Anarfi Asamoa-Baah, Deputy Director General of WHO, during a conference with international experts on experimental therapies and vaccines with potential to treat or prevent Ebola virus disease, in Geneva, Switzerland yesterday

by Nick Enoch
Daily Mail