Guinea declared free of Ebola transmissions

The World Health Organization has declared the end of Ebola in Guinea, commending the people and the government on the achievement.

In December 2013, the world’s worst outbreak of the disease began in Guinea before spreading to Liberia, Sierra Leone and seven other countries.

The West African country will now undergo a roughly three-month period “of heightened surveillance to ensure that any new cases are identified quickly before they can spread to other people”, the United Nations’ agency said.

There were more than 3,800 Ebola cases in Guinea out of the more than 28,600 cases during the epidemic.

The WHO officially declared Sierra Leone Ebola-free on November 7, triggering wild celebrations in the capital Freetown.

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”.

A total of about 11,300 people died, according to figures from the WHO.

“Several of my family are dead”. “This situation has shown us how much we must fight for those who are survivors”. “It was very hard”, said Camara, 26, who fell ill in March 2014.

“It’s the best year-end present that God could give to Guinea, and the best news that Guineans could hope for”, Alama Kambou Dore, another Ebola survivor, told AFP.

“From 2013 to 2015, Guineans suffered, they lived and survived, they endured, they were stigmatised, rejected, even humiliated because of this disease, which leapt out of nowhere”. Dr. Mohamed Belhocine, World Health Organization representative in Guinea, said the organization and partners will continue to support Guinea through this period and “in its early efforts to restart and strengthen essential health services throughout 2016”.

Guinea was the last to struggle to stamp out the deadly disease, until Liberia saw a new case in November.