Liberia close to beating Ebola as cases dwindle

THE GUARDIAN  by Lisa O'Caroll                                                                       Jan. 5, 2015

Liberia appears close to beating Ebola, with plans to reopen schools next month after the latest figures showed the infection rate has dwindled to just over four cases a day.

Liberian president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, announced that schools would reopen on 2 February. Photograph: John Moore/Getty Images

The US also plans to withdraw about half its 2,400 troops six months after the virus struck, claiming 3,400 lives.

Optimism has been increased by figures issued by the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (Unmeer). They show the country had no confirmed Ebola cases on 31 December and just 91 cases in the past 21 days.

This compares starkly with the 979 cases in the past three weeks in neighbouring Sierra Leone where, Unmeer says, “transmission remains intense” but the infection rate is moving to a national average of just over three cases per day, it said on its Facebook page on Monday.

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http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/05/liberia-close-beating-ebola-cases-dwindle