UN Chief says ebola could be contained by mid-2015 from Xinhuanet by Sheldon Wong

UN Chief says ebola could be contained by mid-2015 WASHINGTON, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Friday that there is hope that the ebola outbreak could be contained by mid-2015 by continuing to scale up the global fight against the disease. At a press conference at World Bank headquarters after an UN System Chief meeting for Coordination to counter Ebola, the secretary-general emphasized that results are still uneven, and announced that the organization's top health officials will head to Mali where the situation is still a cause of "deep concern." Saying that "the rate of transmission continues to increase in too many places," Ban made an urgent appeal for ramped up resources." "We need more international responders, trained medical teams and volunteer health workers, especially in remote districts," he added. By Nov. 20, there have been six reported cases in Mali, all of whom have died. A total of 327 contacts are being followed up, according to the UN World Health Organization (WHO) Friday. But Ban noted "some welcome progress," saying "We are seeing the curve bending in enough places to give us hope." He also said "if we continue to accelerate our response, we can contain and end the outbreak by the middle of next year." World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said on Friday that to get to zero cases of ebola will be extraordinarily difficult as it is not a disease where you can leave a few cases and say you've done enough.

潘基文说明年年中有望控制埃博拉疫情 新华网华盛顿１１月２１日电（记者林小春　刘劼）联合国秘书长潘基文２１日说，只要国际社会继续加大应对埃博拉行动的力度，那么西非有希望在２０１５年年中控制住埃博拉疫情。 潘基文当天在华盛顿与世界银行行长金墉及世界卫生组织总干事陈冯富珍等举行会谈后说，在埃博拉应对策略得以落实的地方，已经出现一些令人欢迎的进展，“新病例出现的速度似乎在放缓，我们在足够多的地方看到疫情的曲线向下弯曲，这给了我们希望”，“如果我们继续加快应对，我们能够在明年年中控制、结束疫情”。 但潘基文强调，各地疫情并不均衡，马里近来的疫情就令人深感担忧，为此他派遣陈冯富珍等人奔赴马里，与该国探讨如何阻止疫情扩散。此外，他已要求联合国埃博拉应急特派团在马里设立一个办公室。 陈冯富珍说，尽管西非已看到控制疫情的早期迹象，但应继续保持警惕，直至把病例数降至零。联合国和有关方面正加大在马里的应对努力，“我们必须扑灭这一点小火，这一点烟雾，不让它失控”。 世界卫生组织当天确认，马里迄今发现６个埃博拉病例，６人全部死亡。他们之中，除了１０月下旬的一名两岁小女孩外，其余均与在首都巴马科巴斯德诊所死亡的一名几内亚病人有关。 (This is the features in Xinhuanet. It have the title about bilingual news call Bilingual zone. It is useful for Chinese and English people to read news.)