Liberia has been declared free from Ebola.
The declaration was made Saturday after 42 days without a new case, the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said.
The group however urged vigilance until the worst-ever recorded outbreak of the virus is extinguished in neighbouring Guinea and Sierra Leone.
A total of 11,005 people have died from Ebola in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone since the outbreak began in December 2013, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Nearly half of those deaths have been in Liberia, where the outbreak peaked between August and October, with hundreds of cases a week, sparking international alarm, Reuters says.
MSF said that Liberia’s completion of the WHO’s benchmark for the end of an Ebola epidemic – 42 days without a new case, marking twice the maximum incubation period of the virus – should not lead to complacency.
“We can’t take our foot off the gas until all three countries record 42 days with no cases,” said Mariateresa Cacciapuoti, MSF’s head of mission in Liberia.
She urged Liberia to step up cross-border surveillance to prevent Ebola slipping back into the country.
The United Nations Special Envoy on Ebola, David Nabarro, said this week that Liberian authorities had pledged to maintain heightened surveillance for at least a year after being declared Ebola-free on Saturday.
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