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Liberia
Declares State Of Emergency Over Ebola Virus | Silverbird Television
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Media
reports indicate that Liberia said on Thursday it had lifted a state of
emergency imposed for its "very survival" three months ago as the
deadly Ebola virus was cutting a swathe through the West African nation.
According to AFP, the announcement -- the clearest sign yet that the country
believes it is beating an epidemic which has claimed nearly 3,000 Liberian
lives -- follows a dramatic recent drop in new cases.
"I
have informed the leadership of the national legislature that I will not seek
an extension of the state of emergency," President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
announced on state-owned radio network ELBC.
Sirleaf
announced the emergency regime on August 6, speaking of "a clear and
present danger" from Ebola, which at the time had claimed around 1,000
lives across west Africa.
Parliament
had been due to discuss extending the order, originally envisaged as a
three-month measure, before Sirleaf`s intervention.
Sirleaf
said the relaxation was "not because the fight against Ebola is over"
but because recent successes in battling the epidemic had combined "to
reposition our efforts to sustain our fight against the virus".
She
added that Liberia had acted "decisively" by imposing tough new
regulations closing borders, imposing curfews and quarantines, shutting schools
and restricting public gatherings.
"As the virus
progressed, posing a clear danger to the state, our neighbours and the rest of
the world, we were compelled to declare a state of emergency," she said.
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