World Health Organization to declare Guinea free of Ebola

PanARMENIAN.Net - Guinea is to be declared free of Ebola by the World Health Organization (WHO), two years after the epidemic began there, BBC News reports.

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.

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.

The disease has had an enormous social and economic impact on Guinea, the BBC's Ibrahima Diane in Conakry says. 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.

Meanwhile, survivors are still living in fear of the stigma and long-term side effects associated with the virus, our correspondent adds.