The death toll from an Ebola outbreak in West Africa has risen to 603 since February, with at least 68 deaths reported from three countries in the region in the last week alone, the World Health Organisation said on Tuesday.
WHO said there were 85 new cases between July 8-12, highlighting continued high levels of transmission. International and local medics were struggling to get access to communities as many residents feared outsiders were spreading rather than fighting Ebola.
“It’s very difficult for us to get into communities where there is hostility to outsiders,” WHO spokesman Dan Epstein told a news briefing in Geneva. “We still face rumours, and suspicion and hostility. … People are isolated, they’re afraid, they’re scared.”
(Read the rest of the story here…)