The official said the woman “died at home” but did not say why she had been released from the hospital in Magburaka, the capital of the northern Tonkolili district. Certain areas will be quarantined, Kellie said.
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“Right now a team is watching her close family members”, Nabie Kamara said, who works for the Disaster Management Department in Sierra Leone. Authorities are initiating control measures to prevent further transmission, it said.
The incident comes just over two months after Sierra Leone was declared free of the epidemic following 42 days without a new infection.
World Health Organization stressed in a statement Thursday that Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone remain at high risk of additional small outbreaks of Ebola in the coming months due to the virus persisting in survivors after recovery.
Liberia was the last country to see the end of active transmission of Ebola. In many cases it shuts down organs and causes unstoppable internal bleeding.
Information campaigns calling upon residents of Ebola-affected countries to respect government health directives have been largely credited with turning the tide of the epidemic.
“We encourage the public to continue to practise the hygiene regulations which were in force during the period while Ebola was raging and the emergency regulations are still in force”.
“We are now at a critical period…”
Sierra Leone was declared free of Ebola transmission on November 7, 2015. Guinea was declared Ebola-free toward the end of December.
Over 11,000 people have died in West Africa since the outbreak began. Countries are then placed on a 90-day heightened surveillance. Excluding the most recent case, 10 flare-ups unassociated with the original chain of transmission have been identified. The virus is spread from one person to another through sweat, vomit, blood, or other form of bodily fluid contact, and can be spread by those who had recently died.
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Despite the WHO’s optimism ahead of Thursday’s announcement, Liberia chief medical officer Francis Karteh still warned against keeping one’s guard down regarding the outbreak. Immune-protected areas of the body such as the testes and the eyes can harbor the virus, perhaps for as long as 1 year.
