Ebola infections slowing in Liberia but WHO warns against complacency

The rate of new Ebola infections appears to be slowing in hard-hit Liberia, but the crisis is far from over, the World Health Organisation said on Wednesday.

"It appears that the trend is real in Liberia and there may indeed be a slowing of the epidemic there," WHO assistant director-general Bruce Aylward told reporters in Geneva.

"There is increasing evidence that these countries can get on top of this," he said.

Aylward added, though, that he was "terrified that the information will be misinterpreted and that people will begin to think Ebola is under control."

The Ebola outbreak that has been ravaging west Africa has claimed 4,922 lives, according to the latest update from the WHO. The vast majority of the deaths were in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.