Updated 8:27pm: Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has urged the world not to discriminate against Ebola affected countries.

Julie Bishop has chaired a UN Security Council meeting on Ebola in New York, expressing concern about extent of the outbreak.

Her speech left open the possibility of Australia contributing more to international efforts to combat the disease.

Ms Bishop says the outbreak is more serious than first thought.

"The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is unprecedented in its scale, its reach and its impact and it much more than a health crisis."

"This outbreak has serious humanitarian, economic and social consequences.

"Rising food prices, closed schools, lost livelihoods and it threatens political stability."

The statement has sparked claims of hypocrisy over the Abbott government's west Africa visa bans.

Ms Bishop urged member states to maintain trade and transport links with west African countries fighting the disease.

The opposition says the statement contradicts the Abbott government's visa ban on people from west Africa.