Liberia’s president warned President Obama this week that her nation risks being overwhelmed by the spread of the Ebola virus.
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf sent Obama a letter saying “at this rate, we will never break the transmission chain and the virus will overwhelm us,” according to the New York Times.
Johnson asked Obama to direct the Pentagon to set up “at least one” infectious disease center in her nation’s capital, Monrovia, and to set up hospital beds across the country.
More than 1,200 people have died of the virus in Liberia, and the nation’s Defense Minister told the U.N. Security Council this week that it is a “serious threat” to the country’s existence, reports Time magazine.
Obama is expected to announce a stepped-up American response to Ebola on Tuesday.
Scientists expect the outbreak to last another 12 to 18 months and possibly infect hundreds of thousands more people, according to scientists tracking its spread.
“We hope we’re wrong,” Bryan Lewis, an epidemiologist, told the New York Times.
