14 DAY TRIAL // Since December 2013, the Ebola epidemic in West Africa has infected over 26,000 people and claimed more than 10,000 lives, latest reports produced by medical experts say.
The epidemic is still ongoing in Sierra Leone and Guinea. Still, it looks like things are at long last taking a turn for the better.
Thus, it was this past Saturday that the World Health Organization issued a statement saying that, as of May 9, no new cases of Ebola had been reported in Liberia in 42 days.
This means that, at least for now, Liberia is Ebola-free. As detailed by Nature, the last person in this country to be killed by Ebola died on March 27.
“Today’s announcement is a testament to all of the extraordinary Liberians and our global partners who worked tirelessly over the past 15 months to fight Ebola,” said specialist Rajesh Panjabi.
As for Sierra Leone and Guinea, only a few Ebola cases have been reported in these two countries over the past few days. Hence, they could also be declared Ebola-free sometime in the days to come.
Even if this comes to happen, Wealth Health Organization officials stress that efforts must be made to strengthen local health systems and make sure an epidemic of such proportions never again happens.