Mater Dei staff undergo Ebola training

An Ebola decontamination tent was today set up at Mater Dei Hospital as staff underwent further training drills. This is being done to prepare health care workers in procedures and protocols which would be adopted in the eventual case of an Ebola patient at Mater Dei.

Today training in decontamination was undertaken and for this purpose a specially procured decontamination tent was set up outside the Accident and Emergency Department.

This decontamination tent has inbuilt showers and a similar system would be used by staff caring for eventual Ebola patients.

Earlier, the World Health Organisation said the Ebola outbreak in West Africa is killing seven out of 10 victims and new cases could hit 10,000 a week within two months if it is not brought under control.

The organisation's assistant director-general Bruce Aylward said that the death rate was higher than the official 50% rate and that "a lot more people will die" if the West Africa outbreak was not stopped.

"What we're finding is 70% mortality," said Aylward, adding that he had a "working forecast" of 5,000 to 10,000 new cases a week by December to guide the international response.

WHO figures released on Tuesday show 8,914 confirmed cases and a total of 4,447 people dead. However, the organisation has said several times that the tallies are unreliable due to difficult recording conditions and workload. 

Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia have been hardest hit.

Meanwhile, a UN medical worker infected with Ebola in Liberia died in Berlin. The St Georg hospital in Leipzig said on Tuesday that the 56-year-old man, whose name has not been released, died overnight of the infection.

The man tested positive for Ebola on October 6, prompting Liberia's UN peacekeeping mission to place 41 other staff members under "close medical observation".