Four new cases were detected in Guinea last month and following this people who had been at close contact with these patients had been closely monitored by healthcare workers.
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More than 14,000 people in Sierra Leone contracted Ebola during the outbreak, and almost 4,000 people died from the disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Health officials are monitoring 69 contacts of the affected family members and the 21-day surveillance period is to end Friday.
Dr. Conteh said: “As we reflect on this day let us continue in our prayers to be praying for the departed souls to rest in peace and also let us be vigilant in upholding the fight and don’t forget that Ebola came with good hygiene practices, so let us continue with those good health practices and ignore the bad ones in the interest of self-hygienic practices”, he advised.
The illnesses had links to the last known transmission chain that began in Conakry’s Ratoma area. Sixty of the contact are considered high risk, and one contact from the district has been lost to follow-up, the World Health Organization said in its weekly update.
“As long as Ebola remains on the doorstep of Sierra Leone, the risk of new cases in the country will exist”.
Sierra Leone was declared free of the disease November 7 after a 42-day period – twice the Ebola incubation period – in which no new cases were reported. Hundreds of alerts have been reported, but none turned out to be Ebola.
Several members of this family in Bo, Sierra Leone, survived after becoming sick with the Ebola virus.
The outbreak began in the district of Kailahun, which borders the countries of Guinea and Liberia, in late May 2014. So far 11,299 deaths have been reported.
Liberia women celebrate in Monrovia, Liberia, 09 May 2015, the news of the end of deadly ebola outbreak in the country.
“For us, Ebola is not over”, said health care worker Yusuf Kamara in a speech during a ceremony in the country’s capital on Saturday morning. “Such a move would also be in line with evidence-based public health guidance”, he wrote.
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A statistical model that includes data from Sierra Leone’s health ministry mapped the spread of the virus during the outbreak, highlighting two critical opportunities health responders had to curb the outbreak. The result, published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, matches with details known about the early phase of the Ebola outbreak, suggesting the real-time value of the method to health authorities as they plan interventions to contain future outbreaks, and not just of Ebola. Districts are colored by their population sizes (indicated in the legend).
