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Ebola-free Sierra Leone still on alert for new cases: official

Xinhua, January 14, 2016 Adjust font size:

The officer in charge of Ebola response in Sierra Leone says measures are put in place to contain "any outbreak of Ebola" despite the country having been declared Ebola-free.

Foday Daffae said the country is in a 90-day enhanced surveillance after it was declared Ebola-free by the World Health Organization (WHO) Nov. 7 last year, with treatment and isolation centers standing by.

Liberia was declared Ebola-free by WHO on Thursday, bringing the outbreak of the deadly virus in West Africa to an end.

Daffae said Sierra Leone's Health Ministry had set up "a division for disease prevention and control", noting all key staff that were utilized during the Ebola surge are on standby.

The last three spots of the disease in the country -- Bombali, Port Loko and Western Area -- are being tested in case of "fragments of the virus", according to the official.

"The disease ends, but it doesn't mean Ebola virus ends," said Wang Yaoping, the head of the Chinese medical team in Sierra Leone.

Wang called on the government to establish public health system and train more professional medical personnel to tackle diseases including cholera, AIDS and Lassa fever.

China has offered aid worth 750 million yuan (about 113.77 million U.S. dollars) and sent thousands of medical personnel to Ebola-hit countries since early 2014.

Ebola has killed more than 11,000 people mostly in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia since December 2013.

In Sierra Leone, it infected over 8,000 and killed about 4,000 including some 100 medical staff.

A country is declared Ebola-free after it reports zero infection case for at least 42 days. Endit