Updated 5:10 p.m. Moscow Time
GENEVA, October 14 (RIA Novosti) - The Ebola outbreak is continuing to spread to new areas of the three West African countries worst-hit by the deadly virus, with a total death toll rising to 4,447 people, the World Health Organization reported Tuesday.
WHO Assistant Director General Bruce Aylward told reporters in Geneva that despite the decrease in a number of infections, new cases had been reported in "districts, counties and prefectures" of Sierra-Leone, Guinea, Liberia previously unaffected by the disease.
Aylward also said the current number of 8,914 reported cases could go over 9,000 this week, making it premature to talk about success in the effort to curb the spread of the outbreak.
The Ebola epidemic in West Africa broke out in southern Guinea in February, and later spread across Liberia, Sierra-Leone, Nigeria, and Senegal.
The dangerous virus has already reached two other continents. Two people have been infected with Ebola in the United States, and one person caught the disease in Spain, while several others came to the US and the EU having already contracted the virus in the Ebola-hit West African countries.
The Ebola virus is transmitted through direct contact with the bodily fluids of those infected.
Though there is no officially approved medication for the disease, several countries, including Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Japan are currently working on developing the vaccine to stop further spread of the deadly virus.
On Monday, Russian Health Minister confirmed that Russia is now ready to test its Ebola vaccine on primates and may soon start clinical trials.
