The World Health Organization has announced an end to the Ebola virus outbreak in Liberia, meaning all three countries at the epicenter of the west African outbreak are now considered Ebola-free.
The WHO announcement came Thursday after 42 days without a new reported case in Liberia. When announcing the milestone, the WHO cautioned that more small outbreaks are expected and called for continued strong surveillance to keep the disease at bay.
The WHO representative in Liberia, Alex Gasasira, pledged that the organization will continue to support Liberia in its effort to prevent, detect, and respond to any new Ebola cases.
This is the third time Liberia has been declared Ebola-free. The first declaration came in May 2015, but the disease recurred twice since then, with the latest outbreak in November.
This is the first time all three nations that hosted the outbreak -- Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone -- have all been Ebola-free at the same time. Sierra Leone was declared Ebola-free on November 7 and Guinea on December 29.
The Ebola epidemic in west Africa took 11,000 lives and infected more than 28,500 people.