The European Union will airlift health equipment to Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea on Friday to aid Ebola-infected patients. CCTV America’s Sandra Gathmann reports from Brussels.
The EU is sending as many as 100 tons of equipment, including gloves and masks to better protect medical workers in West Africa. With more than 4,000 people still suffering from the virus, concerns are growing about further spread in Africa and abroad.
A nurse in Spain, the first person to get infected outside Africa, remains hospitalized. Reports say her condition is worsening, as two of her doctors, family members, and others are placed under quarantine.
“If they were watching how she was putting on and off the protective gear and that action was being recorded, how is it possible that, up until now, nobody has seen that she had an accident?” said Isabel Lozano, the secretary of Spain’s Technical Nursing Union.
The EU is also pleading with international partners to step up budget support to West African countries as they deal with the health crisis.
In addition to Friday’s airlift, the EU is sending two more planes with equipment over the next few days to West Africa to help workers. In the meantime, officials are trying to appease fears about the spread of Ebola in Europe.
For more on the Ebola epidemic and how it compares to the flu, CCTV America spoke to Kendall Hoyt a professor at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College and the author of “Long Shot: Vaccines for National Defense.”