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Ebola's Over in Liberia - For Now, WHO Says

The latest outbreak of Ebola is over in Liberia, WHO says. That leaves no countries in West Africa with any known cases of the killer virus.
Nubia is visited by her uncle Adama at the Doctors Without Borders Ebola clinic in Conakry, Guinea.
Nubia is visited by her uncle Adama at the Doctors Without Borders Ebola clinic in Conakry, Guinea. Tommy Trenchard / Doctors Without Borders
/ Source: The Associated Press

The World Health Organization has declared Liberia’s latest Ebola outbreak over, the fourth such announcement since the virus was first reported there.

Related: Liberia Free of Ebola Again

Liberia is the last country to receive the declaration, made 42 days after tests showed the last infected person no longer had the virus. Liberia’s health ministry said it now enters a 90-day heightened surveillance period.

The Ebola outbreak was first declared over in Liberia in May 2015, but new cases emerged, resetting the clock three times. More than 4,800 people have died in Liberia, and more than 11,300 mostly in West Africa, since December 2013.

WHO has warned that bodily fluids in Ebola survivors could spark future epidemics. The three countries hardest hit by the outbreak, including Sierra Leone and Guinea, have thousands of such survivors.

Related: Ebola Comes Back Hours After West Africa Hits Zero