The World Health Organization said there could be 5,000 to 10,000 new cases of Ebola each week by December.
WHO assistant director-general Bruce Aylward told reporters Tuesday that the number of new cases has been at about 1,000 per week for the last month.
He said the rate of infection appears to be slowing down in some areas, but that he remains concerned about escalating case numbers in the capitals of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
There have been more than 8,900 cases during the current outbreak, with the virus killing about 4,450 people.
The new projections came as the head of the U.N.'s Ebola mission in West Africa, Anthony Barbury, said he is "deeply worried" that everything being done to fight the outbreak is not enough to stop it.
He told the U.N. Security Council that Ebola must be stopped now or else the world faces an unprecedented crisis.
The Council also heard from the three West African ambassadors whose countries are at the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak -- Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Liberia's Ambassador Marjon Kamara said her people have what she called guarded optimism because of the world's attention and determination to fight the disease.
In an especially poignant statement, Ambassador Vandi Minah of Sierra Leone said Ebola strips caregivers of their humanity because they cannot touch, hug or comfort victims.
Also Tuesday, the head of the U.S. Agency for International Development, Rajiv Shah, said the United States is sending another $142 million to West Africa to fight Ebola, including $65 million to Liberia.
The U.S. has committed more than $400 million to battling Ebola in West Africa so far.
WHO assistant director-general Bruce Aylward told reporters Tuesday that the number of new cases has been at about 1,000 per week for the last month.
He said the rate of infection appears to be slowing down in some areas, but that he remains concerned about escalating case numbers in the capitals of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
There have been more than 8,900 cases during the current outbreak, with the virus killing about 4,450 people.
The new projections came as the head of the U.N.'s Ebola mission in West Africa, Anthony Barbury, said he is "deeply worried" that everything being done to fight the outbreak is not enough to stop it.
He told the U.N. Security Council that Ebola must be stopped now or else the world faces an unprecedented crisis.
The Council also heard from the three West African ambassadors whose countries are at the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak -- Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Liberia's Ambassador Marjon Kamara said her people have what she called guarded optimism because of the world's attention and determination to fight the disease.
In an especially poignant statement, Ambassador Vandi Minah of Sierra Leone said Ebola strips caregivers of their humanity because they cannot touch, hug or comfort victims.
Also Tuesday, the head of the U.S. Agency for International Development, Rajiv Shah, said the United States is sending another $142 million to West Africa to fight Ebola, including $65 million to Liberia.
The U.S. has committed more than $400 million to battling Ebola in West Africa so far.
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