The UN Security Council is to hold an emergency meeting on Thursday to discuss the epidemic.

It is expected to pass a resolution demanding a more forceful international response to the crisis, urging member countries to provide medical staff and field hospitals.

The resolution will also call for the lifting of travel restrictions that have prevented health workers from offering assistance. UN officials have described the outbreak as a health crisis "unparalleled in modern times".護髮中 心

The BBC's Umaru Fofana says frenetic shopping had been taking place ahead of Friday's lockdown

The World Bank's analysis said billions of dollars could be drained from West African countries by the end of next year if the virus continued to spread.

Under the worst-case scenario, the global development lender predicted that economic growth next year could be reduced by 2.3 percentage points in Guinea and 8.9 percentage points in Sierra Leone.

It predicted Liberia's economy would be hardest-hit, losing 11.7 percentage points off its growth next year.

The report emphasised the need to tackle the fear of the disease, as well as the virus itself. It said "aversion behaviour", arising from concerns about contagion, was having a bigger economic impact than the "direct costs" imposed by the epidemic.torial

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