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Baby
Noubia, Guinea's last Ebola patient, was released from hospital in November AFP/Getty
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Guinea has been declared
free of Ebola by the World Health Organization (WHO), two years after the
epidemic began there. Guineans are expected to celebrate the landmark with concerts
and fireworks.
The
disease killed more than 2,500 people in the country and a further 9,000 in
Sierra Leone and Liberia.
BBC News report continues:
Sierra
Leone was declared free of Ebola in November, but new cases have emerged in
Liberia, which had been declared Ebola-free in September.
A
country is considered free of human-to-human transmission once two 21-day
incubation periods have passed since the last known case tested negative for a
second time.
"It's
the best year-end present that God could give to Guinea, and the best news that
Guineans could hope for," Ebola survivor Alama Kambou Dore told AFP news
agency.
Local
health workers echoed a warning from medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières
that vigilance was still vital despite the mood of celebration.
"We
have to be very careful, because even if open transmission has been stopped,
the disease has not been totally defeated," said Alpha Seny Souhmah, a
Guinean health worker and Ebola survivor.
According
to the UN, 6,220 Guinean children have lost one or both parents to Ebola.
More
than 100 health workers also lost their lives in the fight against the disease.
Many
survivors still live in fear of the stigma and long-term side effects
associated with the virus.
The
government in Guinea has blamed the virus for poor economic performance and
says it has also caused people to distrust the country's health services.
President Alpha Conde has
doubled the health budget since winning re-election in October.
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