Liberia declared Ebola-free but...'the job is still not done'

The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that there could still be flare-ups of the Ebola disease in Liberia.

Liberia was declared free of the Ebola virus by global health experts on January 14, a milestone that brought an end to an epidemic in West Africa that has killed more than 11,300 people.

The country had suffered the world’s deadliest outbreak over the past two years, as survivors can carry the virus for many months and could pass it on.

Health specialists warned against complacency, saying the world is still underprepared for any future outbreaks of the disease.

Emergency Risk Management and Humanitarian Response for WHO, Rick Brennan said it is the first time the three countries in West Africa, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia have stopped all chains of transmission of the disease.

“Today WHO declares the end of the most recent outbreak of Ebola virus disease in Liberia, the outbreak that was associated with the flare-up of cases in mid- November.”

The WHO official warned that the job is still not done adding that there is still an ongoing risk of re-emergence of the disease because of the virus in some survivors.

#WestAfrica: WHO declares #Ebola outbreak over in #Liberia but warns of new flare-ups https://t.co/0wgtUVuO7q

— ReliefWeb (reliefweb) January 14, 2016

Liberia was the last affected country to get the all-clear with no cases of Ebola for 42 days.The other affected countries, Guinea and Sierra Leone were declared Ebola-free late 2015.