Red Cross warns of holiday Ebola spike

The Red Cross is warning of a possible spike in Ebola cases in West Africa as people begin holiday travel across the region.

“If we have social gatherings and movement of people … there may be increased risk,” said Elhadj As Sy, secretary general of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, on Thursday.

{mosads}”Now is the time to be even more vigilant. We all welcome the plateauing and the signs of declines we are seeing in some places … but that should not be a reason for complacency,” he said.

The comments come as new cases of Ebola appear to be lessening in Guinea and Liberia, with Sierra Leone still under serious threat from the epidemic.

Roughly 6,400 people have died from Ebola this year, with almost 18,000 sickened, according to the World Health Organization.

In the United States, it has been almost two months since New York City doctor Craig Spencer was diagnosed with Ebola after he returned from treating patients in Guinea. He was release from a hospital on Nov. 11.

The case prompted a raft of new Ebola screening and monitoring policies, though Spencer remains the last infected person to arrive undetected in the United States so far.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Tuesday that nearly 2,000 airline passengers have been screened for Ebola since October, with no virus found.

Sy’s remarks were first reported by Reuters.