FREETOWN: A Cuban doctor infected with Ebola in Sierra Leone became the latest of nearly 600 health workers to have contracted the virus, amid fresh warnings that the fight against the disease is far from over.
The deadliest outbreak of Ebola ever has now killed 5,420 people and infected 15,145, according to new World Health Organization figures Wednesday, with Sierra Leone seeing the steepest increase in new cases.
Cuba has played a large role in intensifying global efforts to fight the outbreak in the three worst-hit countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, sending around 250 nurses and doctors to the region with another 450 to come.
Felix Baez Sarria, one of about 165 Cuban medics in Sierra Leone, is being treated in a Red Cross centre near Freetown, his boss told AFP on Wednesday.
"He's not critical, he's doing well, in a good condition," Jorge Delgado Butillo said.
"The most important thing now is to get him evacuated to Geneva pretty soon," he said, adding that the rest of the Cuban team had not been discouraged by the infection of their 43-year-old colleague.
Cuba said the doctor was being treated by British medics.
In a message to his father, Sarria's son Alejandro Baez said: "Be strong Dad, everything's going to be fine. All Cuba's pulling for you," according to the pro-government news website Cubasi.
In its latest update, the WHO said Ebola transmission "remains intense and widespread" in Sierra Leone, with 533 new confirmed cases reported in the week to November 16.
The outbreaks in Guinea and Liberia now appear driven by intense transmission only in several key districts and no longer nationwide, the body said.
Medical professionals have been particularly affected by the worst Ebola outbreak on record. Out of the 584 healthcare workers known to have contracted the virus, 329 have died.
U2 frontman Bono and Oscar-winning actors Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman led an appeal Wednesday for the world to step up its fight against Ebola, releasing a video in deliberate silence to decry early inaction.
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