EU Ebola Funds: Leaders Secure 1 Billion Euros To Fight Virus In West Africa

European Union states secured 1 billion euros ($1.25 billion) among themselves to combat Ebola in West Africa as a self-imposed deadline was drawing to a close, the bloc said Friday. That's more than double the 600 million euros pledged earlier by the EU's 28-member nations.

Britain led the way, pledging an additional 100 million euros ($126 million) to fight Ebola, which has killed more than 4,800 people, mostly in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

European leaders are gathering for a two-day summit that opened Thursday in Brussels to discuss a number of issues, including the Ukraine conflict and immigration between EU states.

An American doctor who recently returned from Guinea has tested positive for Ebola in the first known case in New York City. Craig Spencer, a 33-year-old physician at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, contracted the virus while working with the group Doctors Without Borders. He contacted New York City health officials after coming down with a 100.3 degree fever and gastrointestinal symptoms. Before he was quarantined Thursday, Spencer had visited several city landmarks and hotspots, but New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said “there is no reason for New Yorkers to be alarmed.” Ebola is spread by direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person, and officials said Spencer hasn't seen any patients since returning from Guinea, according to CNN.

Meanwhile, Mali has confirmed its first case of Ebola after a 2-year-old girl was brought there by her family from neighboring Guinea, health officials said Thursday. Mali is now the sixth West African country to be hit by the virus, although two of those -- Senegal and Nigeria -- were recently declared Ebola free. Officials said the girl's family brought her to Mali earlier this week after her father died from Ebola. Mali, which shares a 533 mile-long border with Guinea, has managed to hold off the virus through strict border control measures as well as vigorous contact tracing and quarantine responses. Malian officials said that they're monitoring 43 people, including 10 health workers, who have been in contact with the girl. She's being treated at a hospital in Kayes, near the border of Senegal and Mauritania.