2015-03-06 16:32:00

Liberia releases last known Ebola patient from care


Liberia's last Ebola patient left hospital on Thursday to cheers of delight from friends and family, a year after the West African country reported its first case.

Liberia's capital, Monrovia, was once at the heart of an epidemic that has killed nearly 10,000 across West Africa. Liberia has reported no new Ebola cases in 13 days, but can be deemed Ebola-free only after 42 days have passed -- double the
normal incubation period for the virus.

Dressed in a bright orange T-shirt and multi-coloured beads,a joyous Beatrice Yardolo greeted a small crowd outside the Chinese Ebola treatment centre in the Paynesville suburb of Monrovia, where she was hospitalised for two weeks.

Chinese healthcare workers took turns to congratulate her, offering a bouquet of red flowers, a toy panda and a survivor's certificate, as soldiers from the People's Liberation Army (PLA) looked on.

"I am very grateful to the Chinese treatment centre and the Almighty God that I lived to see this day. I did not know I would make it," said Yardolo, who comes from the St. Paul's
Bridge suburb, which has since January been one of Liberia's last remaining hot spots.

Yardolo has lost three children to the hemorrhagic fever. Ebola spreads through bodily fluids like saliva and vomit and her family is thought to have been infected by a son who caught it while working as a dental hygienist.

"It makes me feel happy. It makes me feel like our country is coming to the end of a very horrible period," said her son Joel Yardolo.

"Today signifies a very great day for our country. When the news was bad, we reported it. We stand here today to signify good news," said Tolbert Nyenswah, head of Liberia's Ebola response.

However, Nyenswah called on Liberians to observe strict measures to eradicate the disease, adding more than 100 Ebola contacts were still under surveillance.

(Reuters, By James Harding Giahyue)








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