The World Health Organization (WHO) on Saturday declared Liberia free
from the deadly Ebola virus. The country has not had a single confirmed
case of Ebola from the past 42 days.
The last confirmed death was on 27 March, 2015. Since September 2014, Liberia was seeing 400 cases of the deadly disease in a week.
In order to stem the epidemic, a public health campaign was also launched. The deadly disease has claimed over 11,000 lives in the region, and remains active in Guinea and Sierra Leone.
WHO will regard a country Ebola-free, if there is no new case of the deadly disease in 42-day period, that is twice the number of maximum incubation period.
Liberia has seen the most deaths because of Ebola out of all the African countries.
Ebola care centres and hand washing station have been set up with international help to try to halt the disease, which is spreading through contact with the sick people.
“We can’t take our foot off the gas until all three countries record 42 days with no cases,” Mariateresa Cacciapuoti, MSF’s head of mission in Liberia, said in a statement.
She urged Liberia to step up cross-border surveillance to prevent Ebola slipping back into the country.
The UN Special Envoy on Ebola, David Nabarro, said this week that Liberian authorities had pledged to maintain heightened surveillance for at least a year after being declared Ebola-free on Saturday May 09,2015
The last confirmed death was on 27 March, 2015. Since September 2014, Liberia was seeing 400 cases of the deadly disease in a week.
In order to stem the epidemic, a public health campaign was also launched. The deadly disease has claimed over 11,000 lives in the region, and remains active in Guinea and Sierra Leone.
WHO will regard a country Ebola-free, if there is no new case of the deadly disease in 42-day period, that is twice the number of maximum incubation period.
Liberia has seen the most deaths because of Ebola out of all the African countries.
Ebola care centres and hand washing station have been set up with international help to try to halt the disease, which is spreading through contact with the sick people.
“We can’t take our foot off the gas until all three countries record 42 days with no cases,” Mariateresa Cacciapuoti, MSF’s head of mission in Liberia, said in a statement.
She urged Liberia to step up cross-border surveillance to prevent Ebola slipping back into the country.
The UN Special Envoy on Ebola, David Nabarro, said this week that Liberian authorities had pledged to maintain heightened surveillance for at least a year after being declared Ebola-free on Saturday May 09,2015
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