“Yes, yes, you can say confirmed”, he told The Associated Press when asked if the case had been confirmed to be Ebola.
Advertisement
All six family members, as well as other high risk contacts, are in care at an Ebola Treatment Unit in Paynesville, she said.
The Minister of Health Bernice Dahn revealed that the case is in a 10-year-old boy from Paynesville, which is a suburb east of Monrovia, the country’s capital.
Liberia was first declared Ebola-free on May 9, but new cases emerged in June resulting in two deaths.
Three new cases of Ebola have been diagnosed in Liberia, a country that was declared free of the virus in early September.
After attending school Monday and Tuesday, the boy was admitted to a hospital and was transported to an Ebola treatment unit Wednesday, the official said.
Ebola is a contagious virus that spreads when others come into contact with the bodily fluids and blood of an infected person whose symptoms have already manifested.
Friday’s news comes just days after the medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) announced the last known Ebola case in Guinea, a three-week old girl, had recovered.
“I’m sure as we start to move forward, we will see more clarity”, the United Nations official assured, stressing that Liberia’s emergency response system has improved drastically since the initial outbreak of the virus that wreaked havoc across parts of West Africa.
Sierra Leone passed that milestone on Nov 7.
Advertisement
A country has to show 42 days without Ebola reports and a second negative test 48 hours after the last suspected patient shows no signs of the virus, in order to be considered in the clear.
