The News Minute | October 30, 2014 | 09:39 am IST

Geneva: The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed Wednesday that 13,703 people have been infected with the Ebola virus since the epidemic began in March.

Of that number, 13,676 of the cases were reported from three West African countries-- Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea Conakry -- where international efforts are focused to control the epidemic, xinhua reported citing the statement.

In a country-by-country breakdown, WHO said that 6,535 cases were registered in Liberia, 5,235 in Sierra Leone and 1,906 in Guinea.

Regarding the number of deaths, the WHO explained that it has not yet completed the count and that the final figure will be published in the next few hours.

The organisation's Assistant Director-General Bruce Aylward said in a press conference that "probably the death toll has exceeded 5,000."

With IANS