Sierra Leone records Ebola death hours after WHO declares West Africa epidemic over

Sierra Leone on Thursday said one person had died from Ebola shortly after the World Health Organisation declared that the outbreak of the epidemic in West Africa was over.
Officials said two tests conducted on the victim, who died this week, in the north of the country, turned positive.
The global health body on Thursday declared the end of the most recent outbreak of Ebola virus disease in Liberia and said all known chains of transmission had been stopped in West Africa.
However, WHO stressed that the job was not over as more flare-ups were expected and that strong surveillance and response systems would be critical in the months to come.
Thursday’s announcement said for the first time since the outbreak in December 2014, all three countries were at zero.
Sierra Leone was declared free of Ebola transmission on November 7, 2015 and Guinea on December 29, 2015.
WHO also cautioned that the three countries remained at high risk of additional small outbreaks of Ebola, like the most recent one in Liberia.
PANA/NAN.