--- description: Nigeria and Senegal are days away from being declared Ebola-free, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday. title: Nigeria and Senegal Days Away From 'Ebola-Free' Designation image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte40bfe177671d8f4/698760d206f2c1496833161e/453303722.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Health](/section/health/) ## Health Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [ebola](/tag/ebola/) ## ebola Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # WHO: Nigeria, Senegal Days Away From Being 'Ebola Free'  by [Dan Kedmey](/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 14, 2014 7:13 PM CUT  Ebola Virus news are the top stories on Nigeria's agenda on August 7, 2014. Ebola Virus news are the top stories on Nigeria's agenda on August 7, 2014.Mohammed Elshamy — Anadolu Agency / Getty Images  by [Dan Kedmey](/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 14, 2014 7:13 PM CUT Nigeria and Senegal are days away from being declared Ebola-free, the World Health Organization [said](http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/ebola/14-october-2014/en/ "undefined") Tuesday, highlighting a rare patch of good news amid a sharp rise of new cases in nearby West African countries. WHO officials said that Nigeria and Senegal have nearly reached 42 days without detecting any new Ebola cases, at which point both countries would be officially declared free of the disease. Senegal could reach that designation by Friday, and Nigeria by Monday. Both countries would then be relieved from active surveillance. The WHO credited “a piece of world-class epidemiological detective work” in which officials traced 100% of the people known to have contact with an infected patient in Nigeria and 98% of the people known to have contact with Ebola patients in Senegal. “The anticipated declaration by WHO that the outbreaks in these two countries are over will give the world some welcome news in an epidemic that elsewhere remains out of control in three West African nations,” read an official [statement](http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/ebola/14-october-2014/en/ "undefined") from the United Nations health agency. Nonetheless, a surge of new cases in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra had officials [warning](http://time.com/3505982/ebola-new-cases-world-health-organization/ "undefined") that the virus could rapidly spread across the worst-hit countries. “WHO epidemiologists see no signs that the outbreaks in any of these three countries are coming under control.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3507211/nigeria-senegal-ebola/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3507211/nigeria-senegal-ebola/"},"headline":"WHO: Nigeria, Senegal Days Away From Being 'Ebola Free'","datePublished":"2014-10-14T19:13:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:47:13.621Z","description":"WHO officials tout a rare bit of \"welcome news\" in the battle to contain the virus","url":"https://time.com/3507211/nigeria-senegal-ebola/","keywords":["ebola","Africa","Infectious Disease","WHO","Nigeria","outbreak","patients","senegal"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte40bfe177671d8f4/698760d206f2c1496833161e/453303722.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Dan Kedmey","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte40bfe177671d8f4/698760d206f2c1496833161e/453303722.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Ebola in Nigeria's main agenda","caption":"Ebola in Nigeria's main agenda","creditText":"Mohammed Elshamy — Anadolu Agency / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/ebola/","name":"ebola"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3507211/nigeria-senegal-ebola/","name":"WHO: Nigeria, Senegal Days Away From Being 'Ebola Free'"}}]}] ```