Sierra Leone will be declared Ebola-free today Thursday 17 March, 2016 after the end of 42 days count since the last flare-up on January 12 this year.
Following the declaration of the epidemic in November 7, 2015, the virus resurged after the death of a young lady whose swab test result came back positive.
That incident in January in the town of Magburaka in the northern Tonkolili District led to over 100 contacts been isolated and placed under surveillance.
Unlike the November 7 event, this time there will only be a joint statement by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the government, official sources told Politico.
The epidemic which first erupted in Guinea in March 2014 ended up crossing over to Liberia and Sierra Leone. There were a few cases in Mali, Senegal, Nigeria, US and other countries.
As of 2 March, 11,316 people had died from the disease, out of 28,639 cases, according to WHO figures. Most of these cases and deaths were recorded in the three Mano River Union countries.
Some 3, 956 people died in Sierra Leone, out of total cases of over 14, 124.
A country is considered free of human-to-human transmission of the Ebola virus after 42 days, which is two times the 21-day incubation period for the virus to manifest itself outwardly.
Sierra Leone’s second flare-up came just hours after Liberia was declared free of the virus, interrupting what should have been the end of transmission in the West Africa region.
The UN, because of repeated flare-ups in Liberia, had warned of the possibility of re-emergence of the virus.
Liberia was declared three times while Sierra Leone will be declared two times. Guinea has remained without a case since it was declared on 29 November 2015.
(C) Politico 17/03/16
