The World Health Organization (WHO)
has declared Liberia free of the Ebola virus, confirming that the
country has had no new cases in 42 days.

A poster in Paynesville, outside the capital Monrovia - part of the Liberian campaign against Ebola
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf told the
BBC that Liberia had "crossed the Rubicon" and would be celebrating a
concerted effort to stem the disease.
More than 4,700 deaths from Ebola have been recorded in Liberia, more than in any other affected country.
Neighbouring Guinea and Sierra Leone continue to fight the outbreak.
It has claimed over 11,000 lives across the region since last year.
The WHO regards a country Ebola-free after a 42-day period without a new case - twice the maximum incubation period.
The last confirmed death in Liberia was
on 27 March. On Saturday the World Health Organization said in a
statement: "The outbreak of Ebola virus disease in Liberia is over."
President Sirleaf told the BBC: "We will
celebrate our communities which have taken responsibility and
participated in fighting this unknown enemy and finally we've crossed
the Rubicon. Liberia indeed is a happy nation."
Traumatised nation
Officials say Ebola was eventually
conquered in Liberia through a collective effort. Care centres and
hand-washing stations were set up to try to halt the disease, which
spreads through contact with sick people.
Billboards went up with slogans such as "Ebola is real", "Wash your hands and don't touch" and "Don't be the next victim".
"It has been a terrible time in the
history of our country," Monrovia resident Emmanuel Tokao wrote on a BBC
Facebook page. "I'm firstly grateful to God, who I believe brought us
back to normality."
At the height of the outbreak, he said,
"ambulances would either come for a dead body or sick person. It
reminded me of the war days".
Liberia lost around 250,000 lives in a civil war ending in 2005.
The BBC's Jonathan Paye-Layleh in
Monrovia says the president gave a sense of how traumatised the outbreak
remains after the outbreak.
In an address to the nation on Saturday, she said: "Even today if you hear an ambulance siren you shake a little bit."
Although Liberia has now been declared
Ebola-free, correspondents say the outbreak will have a long-term impact
on Liberia's fragile economy.
The current outbreak is the deadliest in
history. It initially centred on Guinea's remote south-eastern region
of Nzerekore in early 2014, and later spread to Liberia and Sierra
Leone.
The WHO is warning against complacency.
Its statement warns that there is "a high risk that infected people may
cross into Liberia over the region's exceptionally porous borders".
Source: BBC
Post a Comment Blogger Facebook