Sierra Leone releases last four people from Ebola quarantine

Four people who had been in contact with Sierra Leone's last known Ebola case were declared free of the disease and released from quarantine Thursday, health authorities said.

The authorities announced on Tuesday that the Ebola patient, 38-year-old Memunatu Kalokoh, was cured and discharged from hospital.

She was the primary carer of Marie Jalloh, who died of the disease on January 12 in the northern town of Magburaka.

Four contacts who had been residing in the same quarantine zone as Kalokoh when she became ill were placed under observation.

"The four, all women, were quarantined because they were residing in the same compound with the aunt of the index case involving 22-years-old Marie Jalloh, who was diagnosed positive and later died from Ebola in January", Foday Dafai, director of disease prevention and control at the health ministry, told AFP.

"All of them were tested before they were released and they showed no signs and symptoms of the virus. With their release, nobody is in quarantine nor admitted in any hospital for Ebola".

Sierra Leone was declared free of Ebola transmission on November 7 last year and Guinea on December 29 while Liberia followed on January 14—but only after the virus killed more than 11,300 people, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) estimations, triggering a global health alert.

The WHO has been warning of the possibility of a recurrence and stressing the importance of a quick, effective response to potential new cases

© 2016 AFP