MOSCOW, November 17 (Sputnik) — The European Commission (EC) announced Monday new anti-Ebola aid amounting to 29 million euros ($36 million) following a visit by the European Union’s health commissioner to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, the three countries hardest hit by the disease.
“The European Union is continuing to scale up its response to the Ebola epidemic as its Coordinator for the emergency, Commissioner Christos Stylianides together with Vytenis Andriukaitis, Commissioner for Health, return from a four-day mission to the affected countries,” the EC said in a report published on its website.
“New funding of €29 million will be made available by the European Commission,” it added.
The EC has allocated 17 million euros for transporting supplies and equipment to the three countries, as well as evacuating aid workers to hospitals in Europe, alongside training and deploying new workers.
The other 12 million euros will be used to assist Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea's neighbors to prepare for Ebola, should the virus cross their borders.
The virus has resulted in the death of over 5,000 people and more than 14,000 confirmed, probable and suspected cases, according to the World Health Organization. The cases are concentrated in the three most affected countries. Liberia, the most affected, accounts for 2,812 deaths from its 6,878 registered cases.
With the new funding, the EC has contributed a total of 373 million euros to containing the Ebola outbreak in the region.
