World Health Organization declares Liberia free of Ebola

MONROVIA, Liberia, May 9 (UPI) -- The World Health Organization declared Liberia free of Ebola on Saturday, bringing a close to the epidemic in one of the hardest hit African nations.

"The outbreak of Ebola virus disease in Liberia is over," the WHO said in a statement. "Interruption of transmission is a monumental achievement for a country that reported the highest number of deaths in the largest, longest, and most complex outbreak since Ebola first emerged in 1976."

As of Saturday, two incubation periods of the disease, 42 days, had passed since the last person with Ebola died, marking an official end to the disease according to health officials' standards.

Liberia, along with Sierra Leone and Guinea, has been battling the latest Ebola outbreak since March 2014, with more than 3,000 confirmed cases and another 7,400 suspected or probable. More than 4,700 people died as a result, among those were 189 healthcare workers.

"I'm particularly struck by the significant progress we have made as a country and as a people," Tolbert Nyenswah, a senior Liberian health official who heads the country's Ebola response efforts, told the New York Times.

Last week Sierra Leone and Guinea reported nine Ebola cases each.

WHO declares the end of the #Ebola outbreak in #Liberia Liberia #StaysVigilant pic.twitter.com/WHPr2dT3xJ

— WHO (@WHO) May 9, 2015