The World Health Organization (WHO) has finally announced that the Ebola outbreak that killed more than 11,000 people in West Africa is no longer a global threat to public health. WHO's declaration came almost two years after the deadly virus struck Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.
"The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is no longer a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)," WHO director-general Dr. Margaret Chan told a news briefing at WHO headquarters in Geneva on Tuesday. "However, a high level of vigilance and response capacity must be maintained to ensure the ability of the countries to prevent Ebola infections and to rapidly detect and respond to flare-ups in the future."
Chan also added that any travel and trade restrictions that affect Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone should now be lifted. The call came after Chan accepted the recommendations of a committee of independent experts, Reuters notes.
So, is the Ebola outbreak really over? Despite the fact that all original chains of virus transmission have ended, WHO stressed that new clusters of infections continue to emerge due to reintroductions of the virus.
As a matter of fact, experts have warned that it may be too early to announce the Ebola epidemic is over since small flare-ups of the disease can still possibly occur. And according to Albany Daily Star, the virus struck again just two days after WHO's declaration.
"We've been humbled by this virus multiple times during this outbreak, so I think we need to be cautious," University of North Carolina's William Fischer II said. "As long as there is infectious virus that continues to hide out... that is a potential for a reignition of this outbreak, especially if we relax infection control and prevention."
WHO's chief of emergency risk management Rick Brennan also added that the job is not yet done. While UN chief Ban Ki-moon cautioned that the region may still see sporadic cases in the coming year although he's optimistic that the potential and frequency of these flare-ups would drop over time.
Meanwhile, the Ebola outbreak has killed about 11,300 people in the three West African countries since the virus emerging undetected in late 2013 in the Guinea forest. NBC News reports that the outbreak ignited global alarm in mid-2014 and sparked major criticism against WHO.
