FREETOWN: A woman in Sierra Leone is thought to have died from Ebola, officials said Thursday, just hours after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared an end to an epidemic of the disease.
The female student was taken ill in the northern village of Bamoi Luma near the Guinean border and died soon after, with an initial swab testing positive for Ebola, a senior health ministry official told AFP.
"Complete findings will be made known to the public by tomorrow (Friday)," he said, adding that further tests were under way.
Earlier Thursday the WHO said a two-year Ebola epidemic that killed more than 11,000 people and triggered a global health alert was over, with Liberia the last country to get the all-clear.
The deadliest outbreak in the history of the feared tropical virus wrecked the economies and health systems of the three worst-hit west African nations after it emerged in southern Guinea in December 2013.
At its peak, it devastated Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, with bodies piling up in the streets and overwhelmed hospitals recording hundreds of new cases a week.
Rick Brennan, the World Health Organization's chief of emergency risk management, hailed the milestone but told reporters in Geneva that "the job is still not done", pointing out that there had already been 10 small flare-ups because of the persistance of the virus in survivors.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon also warned the region can expect sporadic cases in the coming year but added "we also expect the potential and frequency of those flare-ups to decrease over time".
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