Ebola burial team take body away for cremation, realise man is actually still alive – video

Video shows how desperate the situation is in Monrovia

A still from the video shows the team about to cover the man (ABC)

A tragic scene almost became even more horrifying in Liberia on Thursday, when a man thought to have died from Ebola was about to be taken away to be cremated when he suddenly stirred.

Dr Richard Besser was filming a report for Good Morning America in Monrovia, with a burial team seen in the back of the shot starting to bag a body lying by the road.

"This is a place right now where if you die of Ebola, they’re very quick for you. If you’re living and they need help, there’s really nowhere to go," he says to camera.

With dreadfully irony, the man then begins to stir, with Dr Besser exclaiming: "He's alive! He's not dead!"

But although the man was saved from disposal, his fate remains grim.

"I don’t know where they can take him, there are no hospitals to treat him," Besser adds.

Liberia has been the worst country hit by Ebola, the virus having so far claimed 1,500 deaths in the country.

Security officials yesterday said that the pandemic should be treated "the same way" as threat posed by nuclear weapons.

The virus spreading exponentially across Africa and killing thousands of people “will get worse”, the Government admitted, amid calls for the full involvement of the international military to contain the disease.

Justine Greening, the International Development Secretary, said that ministers had been shocked by a prediction from the US public health institute that 1.4 million people may be infected by the virus by January if it continues unchecked.