Dead Sierra Leone patient Ebola positive

People pass a sign reading “STOP EBOLA” forming part of Sierra Leone’s Ebola-free campaign in the city of Freetown on January 15, 2016.

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared on Thursday that Liberia is now free of the Ebola virus and the outbreak is now officially be considered to be over for the country and all of West Africa.

An Ebola test centre spokesman told the BBC “tests on a person who died in northern Sierra Leone proved positive”.

“Our level of preparedness and response capabilities are very high and there is no cause for concern”, said Kellie.

In Liberia, there was guarded optimism Thursday about reaching the 42-day benchmark with no new cases.

Despite the WHO’s optimism ahead of Thursday’s announcement, Liberia chief medical officer Francis Karteh still warned against keeping one’s guard down regarding the outbreak.

Although the three most-affected countries – Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea – had been declared free of Ebola virus transmission, the risk of small additional small flare-ups remains, the CDC website notes.

The organisation said Ebola can “in rare instances, be transmitted to intimate partners”.

The country’s government rapidly responded to the new case and a team is investigating its origin and trying to stop the virus from spreading, the World Health Organization said in a statement.

Sierra Leone has reported one case of Ebola in a deceased woman.

But it had been declared clear twice before, only for the infection to re-emerge.

From a Guinean infant who was the first victim, the epidemic quickly spread into neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone, notching up more deaths than all other Ebola outbreaks combined.

The latest Ebola victim was a 22-year-old female who had travelled in three different taxis while showing symptoms of the virus such as diarrhoea and vomiting. “The outbreak that is associated with the flare up of cases mid-November”, said Dr Rick Brennan, Director of WHO’s Department of Emergency Risk Management and Humanitarian Response. Sierra Leone passed the test three months ago (Nov. 7), and entered a 90-day period of “enhanced surveillance”.

The risk of flare-ups stems from the ability of the virus to persist for months even in those who survive Ebola, including in breast milk, semen and other body fluids.