Ebola Death Toll Rises To 1350

1350 have now been killed globally by the deadly Ebola virus as Liberian security forces use wood and barbed wire to seal off 50,000 people inside their crowded slum in an attempt to contain the Ebola outbreak.

Slum residents in their hundreds clashed with the police and soldiers, furious that their West Point peninsula is being blamed and isolated by a government that has failed to quickly collect dead bodies from the streets of the capital.

The World Health Organization raised the total death toll to 1350, and said deaths are mounting fastest in Liberia, which now accounts for at least 576.

The UN health agency also warned that “countries are beginning to experience supply shortages, including fuel, food, and basic supplies”.

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf ordered the barricades and a night-time curfew, in an address to the country on Tuesday night.

She blamed the rising case toll on denial, defiance of authorities and cultural burial practices, in which bodies are handled.

But many feel the government has not done enough to protect them, leaving bodies in the streets for hours or even days.

The virus is spreading fastest in Liberia and Sierra Leone, but the UN health agency reported encouraging signs in Guinea that the outbreak is slowing, and there is hope that Nigeria has managed to contain the disease to about a dozen cases.