UN will ‘almost certainly’ miss some Ebola targets

The leader of the United Nations’ battle against Ebola said Tuesday that the team is “almost certainly” going to miss some of its Dec. 1 goals for slowing the spread of the virus.

Anthony Banbury, head of the U.N. Ebola Emergency Response Mission, said in an interview with Reuters that the agency has fallen behind on its response particularly in rural areas.

It is now unlikely to ensure that 70 percent of all burials were safe and 70 percent of all infected patients were receiving treatment by Dec. 1.

“We are going to exceed the Dec. 1 targets in some areas. But we are almost certainly going to fall short in others. In both those cases, we will adjust to what the circumstances are on the ground,” he said.

International officials and aid workers have said the infection is dramatically slowing in many parts of Liberia, where Banbury said the communities are also making more progress toward the U.N. targets.

The slowdown of cases in Liberia comes as Mali is seeing the beginning of an outbreak. The country has reported eight cases of Ebola so far, including two reported for the first time Tuesday.

More than 15,351 cases of Ebola have been reported in eight countries, according to the U.N.