HEALTH-EBOLA/FILE Liberia set to be Ebola-free - WHO

Record ID: 136036

  • Title: HEALTH-EBOLA/FILE Liberia set to be Ebola-free - WHO
  • Date: 9th May 2015
  • Summary: LA JOLLA, UNITED STATES (FILE - AUGUST 8, 2014) (REUTERS) VIEW OF SCRIPPS RESEARCH LABORATORY DR. ERICA OLLMANN SAPHIRE WORKING INSIDE LABORATORY TUBES FILLED WITH COLOURED LIQUIDS BEING SLOWLY SHAKEN BY MACHINE
  • Embargoed: 24th May 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA4DHVBYVPEKJDVYUWLJQC8ZTR2
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL WHICH WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3
    EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES
    The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Friday (May 8), Liberia would be declared Ebola-free on Saturday (May 9), providing no new cases are confirmed.
    On Tuesday (May 5) the U.N. envoy on Ebola hailed the "extraordinary progress" against the outbreak in West Africa after new cases in the previous week fell below 20 for the first time since mid-2014, but he warned it would take time to end the epidemic completely.
    David Nabarro said that in the week to May 3 only nine new cases were reported in Guinea and the same number in neighbouring Sierra Leone.
    Liberia once again had no new cases.
    Nabarro said he was optimistic that Liberia would be declared Ebola-free on May 9, when it is due to reach the official World Health Organization (WHO) standard of 42 days without a new Ebola case.
    That period marks twice the maximum official incubation period for the deadly hemorrghagic virus.
    The WHO said in its latest update on Tuesday that the world's worst recorded Ebola outbreak - which erupted in remote south-eastern Guinea in December 2013 - had killed a total of 10,980 people and infected more than 26,500.
    Nabarro said the share of new cases which have come into contact with previous identified Ebola victims - a key marker of how well health officials have isolated the epidemic - now exceeded 50 percent and was headed towards 75 percent.
    The U.N. mission for Ebola Emergency Response, established in September, is due to wind up at the end of July and Nabarro said its responsibilities would be handed over to other agencies of the United Nations.
    Because there is still a risk of reintroduction of Ebola from Guinea and Sierra Leone - where transmission continues - the WHO said infection prevention measures will be heightened during a week-long campaign to vaccinate more tan 600,000 children against other diseases polio and measles which kicks off in Liberia on Friday.
    The massive campaign had originally been scheduled for last year but was suspended due to the Ebola outbreak.
    The extra measures will include temperature checks and the use of single-use syringes and new gloves for each child vaccinated.
    The Ebola outbreak in West Africa was first reported last year in March and killed close to 11,000 people.
    The highest number of casualties was in Liberia which lost at least 4,716.
    Sierra Leone lost 3,904 people to the disease, Guinea 2,387 and Nigeria 8 say WHO figures.
    Guinea, Mali and Senegal have also been affected.
    The WHO's status report said this week 18 cases had been reported since May 3 in Guinea and Sierra Leone which they said was the lowest weekly total this year.
    The last confirmed case in Liberia died on 27 March and was buried on 28 March.
    Heightened vigilance is being maintained throughout the country.
    In the week to 3 May, 319 new laboratory samples were tested for EVD, with no confirmed cases.
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