A billboard in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia at the height of the Ebola epidemic PHOTO | FILE
GENEVA
The World Health
Organization on Thursday announced that Liberia, recently ravaged by
Ebola, was free of the virus, 42 days after the last confirmed case
passed a second negative test.
"WHO declares Liberia free of Ebola virus transmission in the human population," the UN health agency said in a statement.
WHO,
which had previously declared Liberia Ebola-free in May only to see the
deadly virus resurface six weeks later, said the country had now
entered a 90-day period of heightened surveillance.
It
hailed Liberia's "successful response" to the recent re-emergence of
Ebola, when six people were infected, including two who died.
FAR FROM OVER
"Liberia's
ability to effectively respond to the outbreak of Ebola virus disease
is due to intensified vigilance and rapid response by the government and
multiple partners," WHO said.
Liberia
was long the hardest hit in the west African Ebola outbreak that began
in December 2013 and which infected more than 28,000 people and claimed
more than 11,000 lives mainly in Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone.
More than 10,500 of those infections and 4,800 of the deaths occurred in Liberia.
The
virus is spread among humans via the bodily fluids of recently deceased
victims and carriers showing symptoms, including vomiting, diarrhoea
and — in the worst cases — massive internal and external bleeding.
A
country is considered free of Ebola transmission once two 21-day
incubation periods have passed since the last known case tests negative
for a second time.
But experts warn
that even after 42 days have passed the danger is not over, considering
that some Ebola cases are still surfacing in neighbouring Guinea and
Sierra Leone.
The Ebola virus has been found lingering in the semen of male survivors many months after they test negative.
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