Sierra Leone discharges last known Ebola patient

The last Ebola positive patient was discharged on Monday in the Ebola treatment center in northern Sierra Leone's Makeni city after tested negative.

The patient, Adama Sankoh, contracted the disease through a stranger who visited the Massessebeh village to spend the Eid festivities.

She was first admitted in a holding center where she exhibited the Ebola symptoms and later proved positive and transferred to the Ebola treatment center in Matenneh about 15 km from Makeni where she had been taking treatment until she was formally discharged Monday by the President Ernest Bai Koroma.

Before discharging Adama Sankoh in a very prestigious ceremony witnessed by the international community together with residents of the community, President Koroma cautioned his audience against complacency noting that it is not because the last Ebola patient has been discharged means Ebola is finished.

"We are not yet out of the woods," President Koroma declared. He said this is "the beginning to the end".

The president described the occasion "as a momentous day" that every Sierra Leonean and the country's development partners have been yearning for.

He stated that since Ebola struck 486 days ago, August 25 will see the countdown to the 42 days incubation period.

He reminded that "we must all adhere to the standard operating procedures prescribed by WHO".

The CEO of the National Emergency Responce Center, Pallo Conteh also described the ceremony as a "red letter day in the history of the country", noting that Sierra Leoneans must celebrate "but with caution that we are not yet free of Ebola".

He reiterated that after 42 days of incubation the country will add another three months to make assurance for double sure.

The ceremony was attended by representatives from UNICEF, WHO as well as the government's functionaries.

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