Obama cancels campaign trip, heads Ebola meet at White House

Washington: US President Barack Obama set aside a campaign trip on Wednesday to lead a meeting at the White House on the US government’s response to the Ebola outbreak, a spokesman said. [caption id=“attachment_1759103” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  US President Barack Obama.[/caption] The president’s change of plans came after a second health care worker in Texas was diagnosed with the disease. “Late this afternoon, the president will convene a meeting at the White House of his team coordinating the government’s response to the Ebola outbreak,” spokesman John Earnest said. Obama was due to deliver brief remarks after the meeting. Earlier on Wednesday, Obama organised a videoconference with the leaders of Britain, France, Germany and Italy to discuss the latest on the epidemic, which has spilled into the United States and Europe and sparked panic across the globe. Obama had been scheduled to travel to New Jersey and Connecticut for campaign events, but he canceled the appearances as more bad news came in on the Ebola front. The US Centers for Disease Control said the latest health care worker diagnosed with Ebola was on a domestic flight from Cleveland to Dallas the day before she was diagnosed. The agency is seeking to interview more than 130 people who were on the Frontier Airlines flight. The second case of US transmission of Ebola was announced by Dallas officials on Wednesday, and follows the diagnosis on Sunday of nurse Nina Pham. AFP