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Liberia declared Ebola-free

by Elise Viebeck - 05/09/15 11:14 AM ET

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared Liberia free of the Ebola virus Saturday after the country went 42 days without a new case.

The news marks a turning point in the unprecedented West African Ebola epidemic, which has killed more than 11,000 people since 2013 and stoked fears worldwide.

Liberia, once the epicenter of the outbreak, was seeing hundreds of new cases every week between August and October. More than 4,700 people died of the virus in that country.

{mosads}“We will celebrate our communities which have taken responsibility and participated in fighting this unknown enemy and finally we’ve crossed the Rubicon,” Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf told the BBC. “Liberia indeed is a happy nation.”

Still, doctors on the ground are warning about complacency. Medecins Sans Frontieres, a international group that helped coordinate the response, noted that Guinea and Sierra Leone are reportedly still facing new cases.

“We can’t take our foot off the gas until all three countries record 42 days with no cases,” Mariateresa Cacciapuoti, MSF’s head of mission in Liberia, said in a statement.

Liberia has been the focus of the U.S. response to Ebola. Nearly 3,000 U.S. troops were sent to fight the disease last year, primarily by building treatment clinics.

“We congratulate the people of Liberia on reaching this important marker, and once again pledge our commitment to ending the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and helping to rebuild Liberia and other affected nations,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said in a statement Saturday.