The United Nations health agency is to unveil a several-month response plan dealing with the current Ebola outbreak in West Africa, a UN spokesman told reporters here on Friday.
"The World Health Organization (WHO) announced today that it is working on a six to nine-month plan against Ebola, an operational document that will detail the strategy against the virus," UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said at the daily briefing. "That plan should be presented early next week."
Meanwhile, according to Dujarric, the UN System Coordinator for Ebola, David Nabarro, is wrapping up his visit to Monrovia, Liberia, following a press conference on the situation in the country.
"In light of the recent decision by several countries to close their borders to people travelling from Ebola-affected countries, WHO reiterates that it does not recommend any ban on international travel or trade," said Dujarric.
The UN spokesman also quoted WHO as saying that closing borders doesn't work and is detrimental, as affected countries will be pushed towards a humanitarian crisis and the international community's ability to fight and reverse the Ebola outbreak will be hampered.
"WHO and its partners also continue to highlight that the virus is not airborne and that becoming infected requires direct physical contact with body fluids of people who have been infected or died from Ebola," Dujarric added.
Ebola spreads through body fluids and has killed over 1,300 people in West African countries this year.