The Ebola epidemic in West Africa has led to 1,427 deaths out of 2,615 known cases, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Friday.
In its latest update, the WHO reported 142 new laboratory-confirmed, probable or suspected cases of Ebola and 77 more deaths from four affected countries - Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone.
Earlier, the WHO said the scale of the world's worst Ebola outbreak had been concealed by families hiding infected loved ones in their homes and the existence of "shadow zones" that medics cannot enter. It is due to issue a global strategy plan towards the end of next week in Geneva.
The World Health Organization also said it had drawn up a draft strategy plan to combat Ebola in West Africa over the next six to nine months, implying that it does not expect to halt the epidemic this year.
"WHO is working on an Ebola road map document, it's really an operational document how to fight Ebola," WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said at a news briefing. "It details the strategy for WHO and health partners for six to nine months to come."
Chaib, asked whether the timeline meant that the United Nations health agency expected the epidemic now raging in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone to continue until 2015, said: "Frankly no one knows when this outbreak of Ebola will end."
Ebola will be declared over in a country if two incubation periods, or 42 days in total, have passed without any confirmed case, she said. Nigeria is the fourth country with known cases.
"So with the evolving situation, with more cases reported, including in the three hot places - Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia - the situation is not yet over," Chaib said.
"So this is a planning document for six to nine months that we will certainly revisit when we have new developments."
The WHO expects to issue details of the plan early next week, she said.
Also on Friday, Nigeria confirmed two new cases of Ebola, both in patients who caught the disease from people who were primary contacts of the Liberian man who first brought it to Lagos, the health minister said.
The total number of recorded cases in the country is now 14, Health Minister Onyebuchi Chukwu told a news conference.
In a separate incident, tests carried out on a man who died in Ireland after returning from an area of Africa affected by the Ebola virus were negative for the disease, the Health Service Executive (HSE) of Ireland said on Friday.
The health service sent blood samples away for testing on Thursday and put in place infection control procedures in the community and at the mortuary in the northwest county of Donegal where the man's remains were.
"Laboratory test samples for an individual, who had recently returned from Africa, has proved negative for Ebola virus. Infection control procedures, which had been put in place as a precautionary measure, will now be stepped down," the HSE said in a statement.
REUTERS