The number of Ebola cases in West Africa has not reached worst-case scenario predictions , but until it drops to zero , the world remains at risk , the CDC director said Monday . Speaking to reporters after a visit to Liberia , Guinea and Sierra Leone , Centers for Disease Prevention Director Dr. Tom Frieden said he saw `` real momentum and real progress '' in combating the virus . `` It 's going to be a long hard fight , but I am hopeful that we are going to see continued progress . The challenge is not to let up , not to be complacent and to really double down , '' he said . Last week , the World Health Organization put the number of reported deaths from Ebola at 6,915 , with more than 18,600 cases of the disease reported . Asked about the CDC 's report in September that in certain scenarios , Ebola cases could reach 550,000 by January , Frieden said : `` The projections we released a few months ago showed what could happen if nothing more were done -- in fact an enormous amount has been done . '' He said what had changed was the world 's reaction response to not letting that happen . Liberia had the `` most hopeful picture '' of the three countries , Frieden said . `` As of today , it has the upper hand over the virus . '' This was due to the country 's implementation of the Rapid Isolation and Treatment for Ebola approach , he said . Extensive challenges remain , however , in Sierra Leone , he said . `` Sierra Leone has by far the largest number of cases of the three countries at this point and is in a rapid scale-up phase . '' This is in part a result of the `` challenge of complacency , '' he said . As the number of cases fell , he said , health care workers were `` relaxing their grip '' , by , for example , not wearing protective clothing or ignoring the possibility of Ebola infection when treating patients for other ailments . Three actions were important to combat the next phase of the outbreak , Frieden said : . First , break the cycle of exponential growth . Second , trace every chain of transmission and ensure the intensive followup of every patient with Ebola . And third , strengthen the areas that were now Ebola-free to prevent outbreaks there , he said . `` The next phase is in many ways harder -- it 's tracing every single case to break every single chain of transmission including in highly mobile urban areas and that 's going to be challenging , '' he said . `` The problem is there are clusters all over and new ones popping up all the time . Till each of the three countries get to the last cluster , the last case , then we 're at risk . '' A lot had been done to combat Ebola , Frieden said , but it was still a `` work in progress , '' with -- for example -- more French-speaking health care workers needed in Guinea to stop the spread there . Tools on the horizon included a new point-of-care diagnostic kit that would allow health care workers to diagnose the virus on the spot -- rather than having to make sometimes arduous trips back from remote areas for lab testing of suspected cases . Frieden said that another new initiative in Sierra Leone would allow the vaccination of thousands of health care workers -- if and when a safe vaccine was developed . But he said with new tools -- especially the vaccine -- `` we have to ardently hope that they work urgently , but we ca n't count on them working . ''
Project Director , Tom Frieden has just returned from South Africa . He is seeing ` ` real danger '' in the countries with AIDS . But he warned that until there were no more cases , the world was at risk . ` ` It 's going to be a long , hard fight , '' Frieden said .