WASHINGTON, September 11 (RIA Novosti) – The Ebola virus outbreak is crippling business and expected to cut economic growth in Liberia and Sierra Leone, William Murray, Deputy Spokesman at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), told reporters Thursday.
"How bad is the situation? Well, it"s evolving rapidly but, based on the latest information available, growth could decline by at least 3 to 3.5 percent in Liberia and Sierra Leone and by about 1.5 percent in Kenia," the IMF representative said.
"Particularly in the cases of Sierra Leone and Liberia, the largest sectors of these already fragile economies, that"s the agriculture services and mining sectors, are being affected. This is engendering significant financing gaps for the fiscal and external accounts of these two countries and triggering higher inflation. In Kenya … industrial mining has so far been spared but economic activity has nonetheless slowed," Murray added.
"A large-scale and well-coordinated intervention by the international community is urgently needed to help bring the epidemic under control," the IMF spokesman said.
The worst Ebola epidemic in history began in southern Guinea at the end of 2013 and soon spread to Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Senegal. As of September 6, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported a total of 2,296 deaths and 4,293 suspected cases. The Ebola virus continues to spread in West Africa.
The Ebola virus is transmitted through direct contact with the blood, body fluids or tissue of infected animals or people and the incubation period from time of infection to symptoms ranges from 2 to 21 days.
According to the WHO, the current outbreak's case fatality rate now stands at 52 percent. There is no officially approved medication for the Ebola virus, and experts claim prevention is the only cure. Several countries, including Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Japan are currently working on vaccines.
