--- title: Ebola Death Toll Nears 5,000 description: Nearly 5,000 people have died of Ebola in West Africa, according to figures released Friday by the World Health Organization. canonical: https://time.com/3551555/ebola-death-5000/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-31T19:40:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T11:09:34.398Z article:section: Health og:title: Ebola Death Toll Nears 5,000 og:description: Nearly 5,000 people have died of Ebola in West Africa, according to figures released Friday by the World Health Organization. og:url: https://time.com/3551555/ebola-death-5000/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt34b2d18429232a50/698763cca988ca5e006aa25c/ebola-guinea.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5618 og:image:height: 3160 og:image:alt: Red cross members from Guinea place an Ebola-infected body into a grave in a cemetery now overwhelmed with fresh graves in Gueckedou, Guinea on Oct. 17, 2014. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ebola Death Toll Nears 5,000 twitter:description: Nearly 5,000 people have died of Ebola in West Africa, according to figures released Friday by the World Health Organization. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt34b2d18429232a50/698763cca988ca5e006aa25c/ebola-guinea.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ebola Death Toll Nears 5,000 > Sponsored content. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators.  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Oct 31, 2014 7:40 PM UTC  Red cross members from Guinea place an Ebola-infected body into a grave in a cemetery now overwhelmed with fresh graves in Gueckedou, Guinea on Oct. 17, 2014. Red cross members from Guinea place an Ebola-infected body into a grave in a cemetery now overwhelmed with fresh graves in Gueckedou, Guinea on Oct. 17, 2014. Kristin Palitza—DPA /LANDOV  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Oct 31, 2014 7:40 PM UTC Almost 5,000 people have died of Ebola in West Africa, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Friday. More than 13,500 cases have been confirmed since the beginning of the outbreak earlier this year. The new death figure may indicate that the spread of the deadly disease has slowed. Approximately 30 people died of Ebola in the past week, according to WHO figures. The weekly death toll measured in the hundreds just weeks ago. The updated figures follow a week of news that seem to suggest that the number of cases of Ebola is on the decline, especially in [Liberia](http://time.com/3546078/ebola-liberia/). Still, health officials warned earlier this week that much work remains to be done. “A slight decline in cases in a few days versus getting this thing closed out is a completely different ball game,” said World Health Organization assistant director general Bruce Aylward on a conference call earlier this week. “It’s like saying your pet tiger is under control.” With a few exceptions, Ebola has been centered in West Africa. All but ten of the Ebola deaths have been in the countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3551555/ebola-death-5000/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3551555/ebola-death-5000/"},"headline":"Ebola Death Toll Nears 5,000","datePublished":"2014-10-31T19:40:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T11:09:34.398Z","description":"The new figure suggests that the spread of the disease has slowed in West Africa. 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