Off the wire
• 1st LD Writethru: U.S. stocks post sizable gains on Fed minutes  • Israel, Russia seek mechanism to coordinate army activities  • Chicago agricultural commodities futures market closes lower  • Roundup: Low cost Ryanair cuts back in Finland but envisions benefit from Finnair Asian connections  • Volkswagen's U.S. chief apologizes for emission cheat, giving no remedy schedule  • Oil prices rise amid falling dollar  • 1st LD Writethru: U.S. dollar falls on Fed minutes  • BoE benchmark interest rate unchanged at 0.5 pct  • Slovenia promises to help Serbia on tackling refugee crisis  • Global shipping industry faces challenges: experts  
You are here: 　 Home

No new Ebola reported for first whole week since March 2014: UN

Xinhua, October 9, 2015 Adjust font size:

There were no new Ebola cases reported for the week that ended on Sunday, making it the first complete week with zero new cases since March 2014, UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said here on Thursday.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has concluded in its latest report that no confirmed cases of Ebola virus disease were reported in the week to Oct. 4.

"While this news is very encouraging, there are still a number of high risk contacts," said Dujarric. "Previous experience indicates that at the tail end of an Ebola outbreak, we may see weeks with zero transmission interspersed with flare-ups."

The deadly Ebola epidemic hit West Africa in 2014, with Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea being the three most affected countries.

According to the WHO, since the beginning of the outbreak there have been a total of 28,421 reported confirmed, probable, and suspected Ebola cases in the three countries up to Oct. 4, with 11,297 reported deaths.

Earlier in September this year, the WHO declared Liberia free of Ebola. The organization also said in Sierra Leone, all contacts have completed follow-up.

However, over 500 contacts remain under follow-up in Guinea, and several high-risk contacts associated with active chains of transmission in Guinea and Sierra Leone have been lost to follow-up. Therefore, there remains a near-term risk of further cases, said the WHO. Enditem