After 42 days since the last Ebola patient was treated with no new cases or transmissions, the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared Guinea Ebola-free in a press release issued Tuesday December 29.

This means all three Mano River Union countries (Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone) are now Ebola-free.

But like what happened in the other two countries, WHO has imposed a 90-day surveillance in Guinea to monitor the situation.

“The coming months will be absolutely critical. This is a period when the countries need to be sure they are fully prepared to prevent, detect and respond to any new cases,” says Bruce Aylward (photo) WHO’s Special Representative for the Ebola Response.

Ebola first surfaced in the city of Gueckedou in Guinea December 2013 and quickly spread to neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone. It killed 2500 people in Guinea and about 9000 in Liberia and Sierra Leone.

30 December 2015. The Patriotic Vanguard