The U.S. News and World Report announced December 2 federal officials’ statement that 35 hospitals in the United States are equipped to combat Ebola, which as of December 3 has killed 7,000. The last patient to die of Ebola while being treated in the U.S. was surgeon Dr. Martin Salia, a permanent resident of the U.S. from Liberia who resided in Maryland, according to CBS. Salia was working in Sierra Leone when he was diagnosed with the virus, after which he was flown to Nebraska Medical Center November 15. Salia’s death was confirmed two days later.

“Dr. Salia’s passing is another reminder of the human toil of this disease and of the continued imperative to tackle this epidemic on the frontlines, where Dr. Salia was engaged in his calling,” the White House said in a statement released to CNN.

In November Yahoo! News confirmed that Mali had diagnosed a new case of Ebola and was testing two more suspected patients. This news came after the deaths of five Ebola victims were also confirmed in the country, proving that the virus was spreading. However, Yahoo! reported December 2 that the countries of Liberia and Guinea were on track to contain the virus. The Centers for Disease Control quelled fears that the virus would mutate and become airborne by releasing a report December 1 that explained such a case is highly unlikely to happen.

“Even as Ebola mutates, like all viruses do, it would be very unusual for it to change how it is transmitted, especially when it is spreading easily through a population,” CDC reported. “Over the course of millions of years, viruses do sometimes mutate to change how they spread infection. For Ebola, this would require multiple mutations in the virus over a very long period of time.”

CNN reported December 1 that the World Health Organization will still be able to catch up to Ebola. This statement came after it was reported that Liberia and Guinea were the only countries to meet a goal set by WHO to safely bury 70% of Ebola’s victims’ bodies. Sierra Leone failed to reach the goal because the western part of the country is in the middle of combating a high escalation in diagnoses.

“We have got to get 100% safe burials, 100% isolation and then 100% of cases being found, contacts being traced, in order to stop the outbreak,” Bruce Aylward, leader of WHO’s Ebola response, told CNN.