CRI听力:Over 20,000 will be Infected by Ebola: WHO

The World Health Organization predicts over 20,000 people will be infected by the Ebola virus by early November.

In this latest study, WHO warns that infections will continue climbing unless patients are isolated, the contact point of the infection is traced, and communities are enlisted to help fight the spread of the virus.

The report also says around 71 percent of hospitalized patients infected with the virus have died.

Dr. Christopher Dye is the director of strategy of WHO.

"If we don't do anything immediately then the exponential growth that has been forecast will continue, so far as we can see, and we'll have not a few thousand cases but probably tens of thousands of cases, as Christl has indicated."

So far, the Ebola outbreak has caused over 2,800 deaths, mostly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

The Sierra Leone army has already closed the country's border with Guinea and Liberia to vehicle traffic in a bid to control the spread of the virus.

Meanwhile, no new cases have been recorded in Nigeria or Senegal in the last three weeks.

Last week, the U.N announced a 1 billion U.S dollar plan to contain the virus, saying a special mission will be set up and staff will be assigned to the region to combat the disease.