After a long journey of over a year, Sierra Leone has officially been declared Ebola free by the World Health Organisation.
The country has set out on the path to eradication a couple of time in the past, but has always been pulled back by the unexpected break-out of new cases.
On Saturday, Novermber 7, the World Health Organisation made the official announcement- 42 days after the recording of the last case in the country.
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.
Neighbouring Liberia was declared free in September, whilst Guinea continues to record sporadic cases. Considering Sierra Leone has neared eradication a couple of times, there is cautious optimism in dealing with this news. Possibly a few more weeks has to pass before everyone would truly rest easy.
The recent outbreak, mainly centred in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea, has been the worst in history- killing over 10,000 people over the past year and a half.