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Brussels — The European Union yesterday allocated an extra €2m to fight the Ebola outbreak spiralling out of control in West Africa, bringing total EU funding to €3.9m.“The level of contamination on the ground is extremely worrying and we need to scale up our action before many more lives are lost”, said the EU’s Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva.

The European Union has deployed experts on the ground to help victims and try to prevent contagion but Georgieva called for a “sustained effort from the international community to help West Africa deal with this menace”.

To date the epidemic has caused 670 deaths and 1,200 cases in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, among the world’s poorest countries, with one case confirmed in Nigeria.

The World Health Organisation says this is the largest recorded outbreak in terms of cases, deaths and geographical coverage.

The EU said the risk of the virus spreading to Europe was currently low, since most cases are in remote areas in the affected countries and those who are ill or in contact with the disease are encouraged to remain isolated.

Meanwhile, a Canadian doctor has put himself in quarantine as a precaution after spending weeks in West Africa treating patients with the deadly Ebola virus alongside an American doctor who is now infected, local media said on Tuesday.

Azaria Marthyman of Victoria, British Columbia had worked in Liberia, one of four countries hit by an outbreak, with the Christian relief organisation Samaritan’s Purse.

He has not tested positive for the virus, nor shown any symptoms since returning to Canada on Saturday, but one of his American colleagues, Dr Kent Brantly, is being treated for the disease.

“Azaria is symptom-free right now and there is no chance of being contagious with Ebola if you are not exhibiting symptoms”, Melissa Strickland, a spokesperson for Samaritan’s Purse, told broadcaster CTV.

Brantly, aged 33, became infected with Ebola while working with patients in the Liberian capital of Monrovia as he helped treat victims of the worst Ebola outbreak in history.

He “is not doing well. He is still in the early stages of the Ebola infection but having some daily struggles”, David McRay, a friend and family medicine doctor in Fort Worth, Texas, told AFP by phone.

“He has requested that I not talk in detail about his symptoms and what he is experiencing, but he is weak and quite ill.” — AFP