LAGOS: Nigeria appealed Saturday for volunteers to help halt the spread of Ebola and India took steps to tackle any outbreak of the deadly virus, as two of the world's most populous countries reacted to the global health emergency.

Authorities in Lagos, the largest city in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, said they needed volunteers because of a shortage of medical personnel.

"I won't lie about that," Lagos state health commissioner, Jide Idris, said on television.

Lagos, home to some 20 million people, has recorded nine confirmed cases of Ebola, including two deaths.

In the capital Abuja on Friday, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan declared the Ebola crisis a national emergency and approved the immediate release of 1.9 billion naira ($11.6 million, 8.7 million euros) to fund efforts to contain the spread of the virus.

The money will finance additional centres to isolate Ebola patients, screen arrivals at borders, trace those exposed to the virus, and boost public awareness.

A meeting will be held in Abuja on Monday to discuss strategies to curb the spread of Ebola, which has claimed nearly 1,000 lives in four west Africa nations: Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.

The other three countries have also declared states of emergency.

World Health Organization (WHO) chief Margaret Chan, declaring the epidemic a global health emergency, said in Geneva Friday it was the worst of its kind in four decades. The WHO appealed for international aid to help afflicted countries after a rare meeting of the UN health body's emergency committee, which urged screening of all people flying out of affected countries in west Africa.

It stopped short of calling for global travel restrictions, urging airlines to take strict precautions while continuing to fly to the west African countries hit by the outbreak. And it called on countries around the globe to be prepared to "detect, investigate and manage" Ebola cases if they should arise.

Indian airports went on alert and the government opened an emergency helpline Saturday.

In Canada, a hospital put a patient in isolation after he arrived in the country from Nigeria, local media said.

A doctor at the Brampton, Ontario hospital, near Toronto, said the patient had a fever and other symptoms similar to those seen in Ebola cases, the news channel CP24 said.