Sierra Leone has been declared Ebola free. 42 days have elapsed since the last new case of the deadly virus – the period of time that must pass for a country to be deemed Ebola-free. It has been 18 months since the virus outbreak in West Africa killing more than 11,000 of the 28,500 people known to have been infected. Nearly 4,000 people died in Sierra Leone.
Dr Tumba Junior, a doctor with the charity GOAL based at its treatment centre in Port Loko warned that people still need to be careful. “Everyone is celebrating but we have to keep in mind that we must be careful. We could still have positive cases after this period.”
Dr Anders Nordström, the World Health Organisation representative in Sierra Leone said the news was the result of the “tremendous hard work and commitment” of those involved in the fight.
“We now have a unique opportunity to support Sierra Leone to build a strong and resilient public health system ready to detect and respond to the next outbreak of disease, or any other public health threat. The power of the people of Sierra Leone is the reason why we could put an end to this outbreak today,” he said