Barely six-week after Liberia achieved Ebola-free status by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the country has lost this status an new case has been confirmed on Tuesday.
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That victim, a 44-year-old woman, died 49 days ago, and was found to have contracted the virus through sexual intercourse with an Ebola survivor who was still contagious.
Mr. Nyenswah who heads Liberia Incidence Management Team during the Ebola outbreak confirmed that the reported case of the deadly Ebola virus was only detected from specimen taken from the corpse of a dead body.
Liberia’s response capacity for the Ebola virus will be tested as worldwide health organizations wind down their presence, a United Nations spokeswoman says.
Red cross workers, wearing protective suits, carrying the body of a person who died from Ebola in Monrovia, Liberia, on Jan 5, 2015. Deputy Health Minister Tolbert Nyenswah told FrontPageAfrica that residents are under quarantine and food, medicines and other items will be airlifted into Nedowian.
There have been more than 11,000 deaths in West Africa.
The news that a 17-year-old man has died of Ebola in Liberia is deeply troubling. The fatality is a man aged 17, whose corpse was tested positive for Ebola.
This is the only known case in Liberia now, said Nyenswah. Twelve new infections were recorded in Guinea and eight in Sierra Leone in the week through June 21, the World Health Organization said, the latest period for which data is available.
It tempered jubilation in Liberia with constant reminders that the Ebola crisis wouldn’t end for any country until Ebola was eradiated everywhere.
Officials are urging people not to panic and instead “go about their business as normal”. Liberians try to remain vigilant and this characteristic has impressed Lejeune-Kaba.
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“This is with great credit to your personal leadership in uniting the country, and to the determination and resilience of the Liberian people”, a statement from the presidency quoted Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as saying.
