THE World Bank announced today that it is allocating $200m (£120m) in emergency assistance for west African countries battling to contain an outbreak of the Ebola viral disease.

The money will be distributed to the governments of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea as well as to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The number of people killed in the outbreak has reached 887, the WHO said yesterday.

The World Bank announcement, which requires endorsement by the bank’s directors, coincided with a gathering of African leaders including 35 presidents in Washington to discuss the crisis.

World Bank president Jim Yong Kim, who is an expert on infectious diseases, said that he was “deeply saddened” by the spread of the virus, which was contributing to the breakdown of “already weak health systems in the three countries.”

Mr Jim added: “I am very worried that many more lives are at risk unless we can stop this Ebola epidemic in its tracks.”

The World Bank money will be used in the short term to pay health workers, dispel rumours about the disease in local communities and address the immediate needs of getting sick people into health facilities.

Over the long term, the funds will help countries deal with the economic impact of the outbreak and to monitor the spread of the disease.

The package is now awaiting approval by the World Bank board of directors, which could be confirmed later this week.

Nigeria has recorded its second Ebola case — a doctor who treated a man who died from the virus after his arrival from Liberia.

Liberia has ordered that the bodies of people who succumb to the Ebola virus must be cremated following the refusal of some communities to allow victims to be buried on their land.

The virus spreads by contact with infected blood and bodily fluids. Touching the body of someone who has died of Ebola is particularly dangerous.

A second US health worker infected in Liberia, Nancy Writebol, was flown to Atlanta yesterday to a special isolation ward at Emory University Hospital.

Dr Kent Brantly, who arrived from Liberia on Saturday, is being treated there by infectious disease specialists.