Health workers have been struggling to contain the outbreak in West Africa
The
UN Security Council has declared the outbreak of the Ebola virus in
West Africa a "threat to international peace and security".
The council unanimously adopted a resolution calling on states to provide more resources to combat the outbreak.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned an emergency meeting
of the council that the number of Ebola infections was doubling every
three weeks.
More than 2,600 people have now died in the worst Ebola outbreak on record.
Cases doubling
Mr Ban said the "gravity and scale of the situation now
require a level of international action unprecedented for a health
emergency".
The UN heard that the international
response would need to be 20 times greater than it is now if the
outbreak were to be controlled
Never before has the United Nations Security Council met to confront a public health crisis
He announced the establishment of an "emergency UN mission"
working with the World Health Organization (WHO) to combat the crisis,
saying he would convene a "high-level meeting" next week.
The council heard that the international response had to be
three times bigger than it was now to contain the crisis - the number of
cases is doubling every two weeks in west Africa.
The resolution attracted 130 co-sponsors - a UN record - and
calls on countries to provide urgent aid, such as medical staff and
field hospitals.
The resolution also calls for travel bans imposed by some
states to be lifted, saying the countries need to have access to aid
instead of being isolated.
The disease is spreading quickly in West Africa, with the number of cases doubling every two weeks
The UN Security Council resolution calls on countries to provide urgent aid, such as medical staff and field hospitals
Council members heard that the international response would
need to be 20 times greater than it was now, if the outbreak were to be
controlled.
The Security Council has never previously met to confront a public health crisis, reports the BBC's Nick Bryant from New York.
It is only the second time that a public health issue has
been addressed at the council, the first instance being HIV/Aids, our
correspondent adds.
A doctor appearing via video link from Liberia warned that if
the international community did not step up its response, "we would be
wiped out".
Meanwhile officials in Guinea searching for a team of health
workers and journalists who went missing while trying to raise awareness
of Ebola have found several bodies.
A spokesman for Guinea's government said the bodies included those of three journalists in the team.
They went missing after being attacked on Tuesday in a village near the southern city of Nzerekore.
In Sierra Leone a three-day curfew or lockdown intended to stop the spread of the virus has come into effect.
The aim of the move is to keep people confined to their homes
while health workers isolate new cases and prevent Ebola from spreading
further.
Critics say the lockdown will destroy trust between doctors and the public.
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