THE EPIDEMIC - Ebola death toll crosses 4,000 mark

More than 4,000 people have died in the Ebola epidemic that broke out in West Africa at the start of the year, according to the latest figures released by the World Health Organisation.

The WHO said on Friday that as of October 8, 4,033 people have died of Ebola out of a total of 8,399 registered cases in seven countries. The last toll put the figures at 3,865 dead from 8,033 cases.

The seven affected countries are split into two groups by WHO.

The first includes Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone - by far the worst-affected countries.

The second group consists of Nigeria, Senegal, Spain and US, which have seen a small number of highly isolated cases.

Liberia is the worst-hit of all, with 4,076 cases and 2,316 deaths, followed by Sierra Leone with 2,950 cases and 930 deaths. Guinea, where the epidemic originated in December, has seen 1,350 cases and 778 deaths.

- Aljazeera