OBAMA TO SEND 3,000 TROOPS TO TACKLE EBOLA

A U.N. convoy of soldiers passes a screen displaying a message on Ebola on a street in Abidjan.(Photo: Reuters)

Washington, 21 Dzulqa’dah 1435/16 September 2014 (MINA) – The United States (US) announced on Tuesday that it would send 3 000 troops to help tackle the Ebola outbreak as part of a ramped-up response including a major deployment in Liberia, the country where the epidemic is spiralling fastest out of control.

The U.S. response to the crisis, to be formally unveiled later by President Barack Obama, includes plans to build 17 treatment centres, train thousands of healthcare workers and establish a military control centre for coordination, U.S. officials told reporters, SABC African media quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

The World Health Organization has said it needs foreign medical teams with 500-600 experts as well as at least 10 000 local health workers, numbers that may rise if the number of cases increases, as it is widely expected to.

So far Cuba and China have said they will send medical staff to Sierra Leone. Cuba will deploy 165 people in October while China is sending a mobile laboratory with 59 staff to speed up testing for the disease. It already has 115 staff and a Chinese-funded hospital there.

But Liberia is where the disease appears to be running amok. The WHO has not issued any estimate of cases or deaths in the country since Sept 5 and its Director-General Margaret Chan has said there is not a single bed available for Ebola patients there.

Liberia, a nation founded by descendants of freed American slaves, appealed for U.S. help last week.

Obama, who has called the epidemic a national security crisis, has faced criticism for not doing more to stem the outbreak, which the WHO said last week had killed more than 2 400 people out of 4 784 cases in West Africa.

Obama’s administration has requested an additional $88 million from Congress to fight Ebola, including $58 million to speed production of the ZMapp experimental antiviral drug and two Ebola vaccine candidates.

The president will visit the U.S. Centres for Disease Control in Atlanta on Tuesday to show his commitment. The stepped-up effort he will announce is to include 3 000 military forces and a joint forces command centre in Monrovia, capital of Liberia, to coordinate efforts with the U.S. government and other international partners. (T/P001/R03)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)