The Ebola outbreak `` continues to accelerate '' in West Africa and has killed 1,552 people , the World Health Organization said Thursday . The total number of cases stands at 3,069 , with 40 % occurring in the past three weeks . `` However , most cases are concentrated in only a few localities , '' the WHO said . The outbreak , the deadliest ever , has been centered in Guinea , Sierra Leone and Liberia , with a handful of cases in Nigeria . The overall fatality rate is 52 % , the WHO said , ranging from 42 % in Sierra Leone to 66 % in Guinea . The WHO issued a `` road map '' Thursday that `` responds to the urgent need to dramatically scale up the international response '' in light of the acceleration of new cases , it said . It aims to stop Ebola transmission in affected countries within six to nine months and prevent its spread internationally . The road map prioritizes the setting up of treatment centers , community mobilization and safe burials . It will also try to overcome bottlenecks in vital supplies such as personal protective equipment , disinfectants and body bags . The road map is based on an assumption that `` in many areas of intense transmission the actual number of cases may be 2-4 fold higher than that currently reported , '' the document states . It also acknowledges that the total number of cases `` could exceed 20,000 over the course of this emergency . '' But such a plan is easier stated than carried out , said the aid group Doctors Without Borders , also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres . The road map should not give a false sense of hope , the group 's director of operations , Brice de le Vingne , said in a statement . `` A plan needs to be acted upon , '' he said . `` Huge questions remain about who will implement the elements in the plan . '' All of the best medical aid organizations have not had the proper setup to respond at the scale needed to seriously make a dent in the Ebola outbreak , he said . `` As an international public health emergency , states with the capacity to help have the responsibility to mobilize resources to the affected countries , rather than watching from the sidelines with a naive hope that the situation will improve , '' he said . Vaccine trials accelerated . An Ebola vaccine being developed by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and GlaxoSmithKline will be fast-tracked for human trials , the international consortium behind the effort said Thursday . The experimental vaccine could be given to healthy volunteers in Britain , Gambia and Mali as early as September , according to a statement from the consortium , which provided funding . The vaccine , which does not contain infectious virus material , has showed promise in early tests on primates to protect them from Ebola without significant adverse effects , the statement said . The human trials will begin as soon as ethical and regulatory approvals are granted . Nine things to know about the killer disease . 'Worse than I 'd feared ' Health workers are paying a heavy price as they care for those struck down by the virus . The WHO said Monday that 120 health care workers have died in the Ebola outbreak , and twice that number have been infected . Public health experts say several factors are to blame , including a shortage of protective gear and improper use of the gear the workers do have . `` It 's even worse than I 'd feared , '' Dr. Tom Frieden , director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , said Wednesday of the crisis . `` Every day this outbreak goes on , it increases the risk for another export to another country . `` The sooner the world comes together to help Liberia and West Africans , the safer we will all be . '' Frieden spoke to CNN 's Nima Elbagir in Monrovia , Liberia , where fear and anger over the largest Ebola outbreak on record has grown as health officials put up quarantines around some of the capital city 's poorest areas . A separate Ebola outbreak , unrelated to the one in West Africa , was reported Sunday by the Democratic Republic of Congo . Are myths making the Ebola outbreak worse ?
World Health Organization says West Africa virus outbreak continues to accelerate . There are 1,552 confirmed deaths from the Ebola virus , WHO estimates . New ` ` road map '' aims to end outbreak in six to nine months , stop international spread . Road map acknowledges that the eventual death toll in this region could reach 20,000 .