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Ebola crisis to take six months to control
The outbreak of Ebola in West Africa will take at least six months to bring under control, the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has said.
Speaking in Geneva, MSF President Joanne Lui called for strengthened international co-ordination led by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Earlier, WHO said the scale of the outbreak appeared to be "vastly underestimated".
It said that "extraordinary measures" were needed.
The epidemic began in Guinea in February and has since spread to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, the BBC has reported.
So far, 1,069 people have died.
Ms Lui said that controlling the outbreak in Liberia - which has recorded more than 300 deaths - was vital to containing the epidemic.
"If we don't stabilise Liberia, we will never stabilise the region," she said.
"In terms of timeline, we're not talking in terms of weeks, we're talking in terms of months. We need a commitment for months, at least I would say six months, and I'm being, I would say, very optimistic."
The WHO recently said that the risk of transmission of Ebola during air travel remained low, as the disease is not airborne.
As a consequence, Kenya Airways has rejected pressure to suspend its flights to the Ebola-hit states of West Africa.
The Daily Nation describes the move as "reckless" while The Star says the airline is "holding on to its lucrative West African routes as if they were the only business on its portfolio".
"The government needs to get serious. An Ebola outbreak… would result in serious long term-damage" to the national brand, it continues.
The Standard notes that while it makes business sense for Kenya Airways to take advantage of West African destinations, the "economic escapade could be costly. The safety of Kenyans supersedes any profits and must come first."
However, the Kenya's Business Daily recalls the carrier's ailing share prices. "In calling on Kenya Airways to suspend nearly half of its high-margin flights, someone should, ideally, be ready with some form of compensation. Otherwise, its stock price will continue being more vulnerable in the coming weeks."
The WHO said in a statement that its staff had seen evidence that the number of reported cases and deaths did not reflect the scale of the crisis.
WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said that experts going house-to-house in Kenema, Sierra Leone, in search of infected people were discovering more cases.
Ebola is transmitted by direct contact with the body fluids of a person who is infected.
Initial flu-like symptoms can lead to external haemorrhaging from areas such as eyes and gums, and internal bleeding which can lead to organ failure.

