The World Health Organization said nearly $1 billion is necessary to contain the Ebola outbreak or the cases could start doubling every three weeks in West Africa, Reuters reported.
In a report released Tuesday, WHO said it will cost $987.8 million, 10 times what the organization estimated the outbreak would cost at the beginning of August, according to Reuters.
President Barack Obama is ordering the deployment of 3,000 U.S. military personnel to help provide aid in the region, but Doctors Without Borders said the global response is not sufficient, Reuters reported.
At least 2,400 deaths have been blamed on the outbreak, which has touched Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Nigeria and Senegal since it was first recognized in March, Reuters reported.
Half of the nearly 5,000 cases occurred in the past three weeks, and officials said Tuesday that it was not unthinkable that 20,000 could become infected before the outbreak is over, according to Reuters.
"It's a potential threat to global security if these countries break down," Obama said, speaking of the hardest-hit countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, Reuters reported.
"If the outbreak is not stopped now, we could be looking at hundreds of thousands of people affected, with profound economic, political and security implications for all of us," Obama said after outlining new steps being taken by the U.S. to contain the outbreak, according to Reuters.
In addition to the troop deployment, the heightened U.S. role in West Africa will include erecting new treatment and isolation facilities, training health care workers and boosting communications and transportation support, U.S. officials said in Washington, Reuters reported.
In addition to the U.S. forces, the U.N. health agency said China has promised to send a 59-person mobile laboratory team to Sierra Leone that includes lab experts, epidemiologists, doctors and nurses, according to Reuters.
Britain is planning to build and operate an Ebola clinic in Sierra Leone, and Cuba has promised to send the country more than 160 health workers, Reuters reported.
