ABIDJAN, (Reuters) – The three nations hardest hit by West Africa’s Ebola epidemic recorded the lowest weekly total of new cases so far this year in the week leading up to March 22, the World Health Organization (WHO) said yesterday.
The figures are a further indication that the outbreak, which has killed more than 10,300 people across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, is waning. But there are still worrying signs that the disease is not yet under control in Guinea, the U.N. health agency said in its weekly report.
Seventy-nine new confirmed cases of Ebola were reported in the three countries during the week. Forty-five of those were in Guinea. And in a minor setback, Liberia reported its first new case in three weeks.
The falling number of new cases in Sierra Leone and Liberia as well as a receding zone of transmission mean that treatment capacity now far exceeds demand there, and the WHO is working with local authorities to dismantle surplus centres.
