Sierra Leone released its last confirmed Ebola patient from hospital on Monday and began a 42-day countdown to being declared free of the virus, medical sources said.
Adama Sankoh, 35, left an Ebola treatment center on the outskirts of the city of Makeni after receiving her second negative test result for the virus. Medical staff celebrated in a ceremony attended by President Ernest Bai Koroma.
Medical staff and Ebola survivors held up signs of praise to Koroma at the International Medical Corps treatment center in the city of Makeni 140 km (87 miles) east of Freetown.
“Today is without doubt a day for celebration and reflection on the thousands of lives lost during this devastating crisis,” said Sean Casey, regional director for the International Medical Corps West Africa Ebola response.
For Sierra Leone to be declared free of Ebola, it must go 42 days without another case. Liberia was declared Ebola-free last May, only to experience a brief resurgence in cases.
Sierra Leone confirmed its first case in May 2014 and has since recorded the highest number of cases in the region, although neighboring Liberia has suffered more fatalities.
The world’s worst known Ebola epidemic has raged in West Africa for more than 18 months, infecting more than 28,000 people, mostly in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. More than 11,200 people have died from the virus, with the death toll in Sierra Leone at nearly 4,000.
The outbreak has brought the three nations to their knees, devastating their economies to the backdrop of apocalyptic scenes as infectious bodies at times lay in the streets and entire communities were quarantined.