--- title: Ebola Fight Has Reached 'Turning Point' as West Africa Cases Fall description: Ebola cases fall in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, according to the World Health Organization. canonical: https://time.com/3679701/ebola-who-turning-point-liberia-guinea-sierra-leone/ author: Sabrina Toppa article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-01-23T06:45:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:49:38.231Z article:section: Health og:title: Number of Cases Falling in Ebola-Stricken Countries og:description: Let's exercise caution, says the World Health Organization og:url: https://time.com/3679701/ebola-who-turning-point-liberia-guinea-sierra-leone/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9df399571a3bd358/69877b7e2dce01706a9dd220/ap747922184130.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4000 og:image:height: 2250 og:image:alt: Guinea West Africa Ebola og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Number of Cases Falling in Ebola-Stricken Countries twitter:description: Let's exercise caution, says the World Health Organization twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9df399571a3bd358/69877b7e2dce01706a9dd220/ap747922184130.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Ebola Fight Has Reached a 'Turning Point' in West Africa, the WHO Says ## Video: Ebola Fighters in the U.S. - TIME's Person of the Year 2014 [Watch (HLS stream): Ebola Fighters in the U.S. - TIME's Person of the Year 2014](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/SBg4j1BY.m3u8) (6:15)  _Published 2014-12-10. Dr. Kent Brantly and other health care workers talk about surviving Ebola_ by [Sabrina Toppa](https://time.com/author/sabrina-toppa/) ## Sabrina Toppa Jan 23, 2015 6:45 AM UTC  A health care worker, right, takes the temperatures of school children for signs of the Ebola virus before they enter their school in the city of Conakry, Guinea, Monday, Jan. 19, 2015. A health care worker, right, takes the temperatures of school children for signs of the Ebola virus before they enter their school in the city of Conakry, Guinea, Monday, Jan. 19, 2015.Youssouf Bah—AP by [Sabrina Toppa](https://time.com/author/sabrina-toppa/) ## Sabrina Toppa Jan 23, 2015 6:45 AM UTC The fight against Ebola has reached a “turning point,” according to the World Health Organization (WHO), as the three West African countries hit hardest by the deadly virus — Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone — [see a precipitous drop](http://www.bbc.com/news/health-30932578) in the number of new cases. Liberia, which reported almost 9,000 cases since the deadly outbreak began in 2013, only detected eight new cases last week, reports the BBC. On some days, no new cases materialize at all, a heartening sign in a country where doctors once saw 509 new cases weekly at their peak. “I would have identified the turning point as the beginning of the decline, first in Liberia and then later in Sierra Leone and Guinea,” Dr. Christopher Dye, the director of Ebola strategy for the WHO director general, told the BBC. “The incidence is pretty clearly going down in all three countries now.” In Sierra Leona, where the health crisis once saw 748 cases flooding into hospitals each week, numbers are also stabilizing. The story is similar in Guinea, where the Ebola crisis reached a crescendo at 292 cases per week late last year. Worldwide, Ebola has killed nearly 8,700 people and infected over 20,000 in one of the largest public health emergencies in recent memory. Still, health officials at the WHO are exercising caution and warning that Ebola can reappear if risks are not properly mitigated. “Contact tracing,” or detecting everyone who ever came into contact with an Ebola-afflicted patient, is crucial to thwart future infection. 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