WHO: Ebola cases could triple to 20,000 by November

(Image credit: John Moore/Getty Images)

last updated 10 January 2015

If efforts aren't ramped up to stop Ebola from spreading, the World Health Organization believes infections will triple to 20,000 by November.

"Without drastic improvements in control measures, the numbers of cases and deaths from Ebola are expected to continue increasing from hundreds to thousands per week in the coming months," WHO said in a study.

In Sierra Leone last week, the government attempted to try to slow down infections by having a lockdown Friday through Sunday. Residents had to stay in their homes, and volunteers went around neighborhoods searching for infected people who had yet to seek treatment. Health care workers used the time to bury the bodies of 71 people who died from Ebola; because the bodies are highly contagious, it is imperative that workers safely and quickly bury them.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.