UNITED NATIONS, October 20 (RIA Novosti) - A UN staff member has died from the Ebola virus, and his wife has been taken to hospital, a UN spokesperson said Monday.
Edmond Bangura-Sesay, who was working as a driver for the UN Women agency, died at the weekend in Sierra Leone, the UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said at a briefing. Bangura-Sesay's wife is currently receiving treatment.
"All measures to protect staff at the duty station in Sierra Leone are being taken as best as possible under the current circumstances," Dujarric said.
Bangura-Sesay was quarantined on Tuesday.
Last week, another UN employer, a Sudanese citizen, who worked in Liberia, died in a hospital in Germany.
The current Ebola outbreak started in Guinea in February, gradually spreading to Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Senegal. A number of Ebola cases have also been registered outside of West Africa. There is no officially approved treatment for the disease at the moment, however, Russia, alongside the United Kingdom, the US, Japan and Canada, is currently working on the medicine.
According to the World Health Organization, there have been about 9,000 reported cases of Ebola, with almost 4,500 people having been killed.
