WHO declares Guinea Ebola-free

The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Tuesday declared Guinea Ebola-free, after more than 2,500 people died from the virus, leaving Liberia as the only country still waiting for the end of the epidemic.

People in the capital, Conakry, greeted the declaration by authorities and the WHO with mixed emotions, given the deaths and the damage the virus caused
the economy and the country’s health and education sectors.

Rene Migliani, WHO Official, National Coordination Centre for the Fight Against Ebola, said Ebola had made more than 6,200 children orphans in Guinea.

He said there were more than 3,800 Ebola cases in Guinea out of the more than 28,600 cases globally with 11,300 deaths.

Migliani said almost all the cases and deaths were in Guinea and its neighbours Liberia and Sierra Leone.

WHO said a country was declared Ebola-free 42 days after the recovery or death of the last patient and if there were no new infections.

It said Liberia lost more than 4,800 people to the haemorrhagic fever, “but if all goes well, the country can be declared virus-free in January.”

The country was declared Ebola-free in May and September, but each time new cases emerged thereafter.