Written by Rick Gladstone | From The New York Times

The World Health Organization said Wednesday that the spread of Ebola may be slowing in Liberia, one of the three West African countries most ravaged by the deadly virus.

Dr. Bruce Aylward, the organization’s assistant director general, in a dial-in news conference from its Geneva offices, said that there had been a drop in the number of burials in Liberia and no increases in laboratory-confirmed cases.

While Dr. Aylward cautioned that it was premature to draw conclusions, and that Ebola cases could rise in Liberia again, he appeared to be optimistic that the global effort to combat the outbreak was making headway.

“Do we feel confident that the response is now getting an upper hand on the virus?” he told reporters. “Yes, we are seeing slowing rate of new cases, very definitely” in Liberia.

He said the organization’s latest figures, to be published later on its website, are 13,703 cases in total, with at least 5,000 deaths. Nearly all are in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

Read more at The New York Times