Peace Corps Evacuates Its Workers Over Ebola

The Peace Corps is evacuating its volunteers from the three nations in West Africa hit hard by the Ebola epidemic, reports CNN. The 340 Americans will be returning to the US from Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea as the outbreak worsens. In fact, two Peace Corps workers must remain behind in isolation because they had contact with an infected person, though neither has shown symptoms, says the group. The move comes as health officials try to contain the disease to West Africa. Today, Liberia shut down all its schools, sent home non-essential government workers for three weeks, and dispatched troops to enforce quarantines in some communities, reports the BBC.

"My fellow Liberians, Ebola is real, Ebola is contagious and Ebola kills," said President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. "Denying that the disease exists is not doing your part, so keep yourselves and your loved ones safe." With 670 deaths and counting, the outbreak is now the largest in history, reports the AP. "This epidemic is without precedent," says the director of Doctors Without Borders. "It's absolutely not under control, and the situation keeps worsening." (More Ebola stories.)