3 yıl önce

Second Ebola outbreak in Guinea contained successfully: WHO

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus hails Guinea for managing to contain Ebola outbreak and learning the lessons from five years ago.

WHO sent Ebola vaccines to Guinea helping to contain the spread, 2021.

The World Health Organization has officially announced the end of Guinea's second Ebola outbreak which was declared on February 14.

"I have the honour of declaring the end of Ebola" in Guinea, WHO official Alfred Ki-Zerbo said on Saturday at a ceremony in the southeastern Nzerekore region where the disease surfaced at the end of January.

Health Minister Remy Lamah added: "In the name of the head of state (President Alpha Conde) I wish to declare the end of resurgence of Ebola in Guinea."

The latest outbreak saw 16 confirmed cases and seven probable infections, the WHO said, adding 12 of these were fatal.

It was the second such outbreak in the poor country of 13 million people since the devastating 2013-2016 Ebola epidemic in West Africa, which left 11,300 dead in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Ebola causes severe fever and, in the worst cases, unstoppable bleeding.

It is transmitted through close contact with bodily fluids, and people who live with or care for patients are most at risk.

Guinea reacted quickly to this year's outbreak, however, building on its previous experience of fighting the disease.

Among other measures, the country launched an Ebola vaccination campaign this year with the help of the WHO.

“Thanks to the lessons learned from that outbreak and new tools including vaccines, Guinea managed to contain the outbreak in just four months, and prevent it from spreading beyond its borders. Nearly 11,000 people were vaccinated against Ebola,” the World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the press ahead of the announcement.