But the Organization says the job is not over, more flare-ups are expected and that strong surveillance and response systems will be critical in the months to come.
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Liberia, which along with Sierra Leone and Guinea was an epicenter of the latest outbreak, was first declared free of the disease last May, but new cases emerged two times forcing officials there to restart the clock.
This was made known in a statement obtained by our correspondent in NY from the office of Dr Alex Gasasira, WHO Representative in Liberia.
Governments and global health organisations joined local health workers to combat the disease and new cases dwindled due to public health campaigns, an effort to trace and isolate potential sufferers and the safe treatment and burial of patients and victims. Over 500 healthcare workers died in three west African countries at the height of the outbreak.
The World Health Organization has declared the most recent flare-up of Ebola in Liberia over and the Country free of Ebola virus transmission in the human population.
The WHO added that it is working with country governments to ensure that survivors have access to medical and psychosocial care, as well as screening for persistent virus.
Health specialists warned against complacency, saying the world is still underprepared for any future outbreaks of the disease.
However, research has shown that although Ebola disappears relatively quickly from survivors, among males, it can remain in the semen for up to one year and be transmitted to partners.
WHO officials said that the health authorities in the affected countries had put in surveillance and rapid response mechanisms for managing the risk, and that those measures had proved effective in containing the flare-ups.
Reviews of what happened during the outbreak exposed the major problems of the health systems in all three countries, as well as the shortcomings of the global community.
Two tests conducted on the boy by British health experts proved positive for Ebola, according to BBC.
Liberia experienced two such outbreaks after it was declared Ebola-free in May.
Joanne Liu, MD, MSF’s worldwide president, said “Today is a day of celebration and relief that this outbreak is finally over”. This Ebola response was not limited by lack of worldwide means but by a lack of political will to rapidly deploy assistance to help communities.
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“We need to remain engaged”, Peter Graaff, WHO director responsible for Ebola response, told reporters.
