The United Nation health agency this month gave the green light to use untested pharmaceuticals to treat Ebola patients, according to The Associated Press.
In Monrovia, three African healthcare workers were given the rare experimental ZMapp drug, which has already been used on two American aid workers being treated in the United States after being evacuated from Liberia with Ebola, the AP reported.
Lewis said the three Africans treated with ZMapp were showing "remarkable signs of improvement," according to the AP.
However, the manufacturer of the drug, California-based Mapp Biopharmaceutical, has already said its scarce supplies have been exhausted, the AP reported. Officials have cautioned the public not to place too much hope in untested and scarce treatments.
As part of the increased international response, WFP is stepping up emergency food deliveries to the quarantined areas, which include severely-affected cities such as Gueckedou in Guinea, Kenema and Kailahun in Sierra Leone and Foya in Liberia, the according to the AP.
Fears of the disease and quarantine measures like military and police roadblocks have stopped farmers from reaching their fields, and as a result food output has dropped, raising fears that a famine could set in on top of the deadly illness, the AP reported.
"We think that even beyond the control of the outbreak there will be severe food shortage," said Gon Myers, WFP country director for Sierra Leone, according to the AP. The extra food deliveries would be trying to reach 400,000 people in Sierra Leone alone.
The WHO has told countries affected by the outbreak to screen people departing at airports, seaports and major land border points and stop any with signs of the virus, the AP reported.
It has argued against further travel restrictions, but several international and regional airlines have canceled services to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, according to the AP.
Shipping companies operating on Africa's west coast, as well as port authorities, were also on high alert, the AP reported.
Nigeria said on Monday its confirmed Ebola cases had reached 12, up from 10 last week, but five had almost fully recovered, according to the AP. Four people have died from the virus in Lagos, where it was transferred by a U.S. citizen who arrived by plane from Liberia.
