UN: Ebola still global emergency despite big drop in cases

LONDON (AP) — The World Health Organization says the yearlong Ebola outbreak in West Africa still qualifies as an international emergency even though the number of cases has plummeted.

Last August, the U.N. health agency declared the epidemic of the lethal virus to be a global emergency after the deaths of nearly 1,000 people, mostly in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

At the peak last year, hundreds of new cases were being reported every week. In an update this week, WHO reported there were 30 confirmed cases last week in Guinea and Sierra Leone; the last case in Liberia died March 27.

Dr. Bruce Aylward, who is leading WHO's Ebola response, said the decline appeared to be real, rather than just "a pothole on the bumpy road to get to zero cases."

To date, Ebola is estimated to have infected more than 25,500 people and killed 10,587, mostly in West Africa.

During a press briefing today in Geneva, Aylward said WHO's Ebola emergency committee believes the risk of the virus spreading globally appears to be dropping even though officials still don't know where the virus is spreading in most cases in Guinea and Sierra Leone.