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WHO “reasonably confident” Ebola has not spread beyond West Africa

GENEVA, October 23. /TASS/. The World Health Organization (WHO) is "reasonably confident" that the Ebola virus plaguing Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone in West Africa had not spread into neighboring states, Keiji Fukuda, WHO’s assistant director general in charge of outbreak response, said on Thursday.

"We are reasonably confident right now we are not seeing widespread transmission into neighbouring countries," he said at a news conference. "It remains a concern, but right now I think we are not seeing it."

He said the bulk of information the WHO was receiving about Ebola cases in various countries ultimately proved to be rumors. He said it was possible to conceal a few cases but it was impossible to conceal that many people were dying due to unknown reasons.

Ebola fever broke out in West Africa in December 2013. By now, at least 4,877 people are known to have died from Ebola, but the actual death toll may be three times as much. Some 10,000 are infected, according to the WHO statistics.