Guinea, Ebola’s Ground Zero, Is About to Be Declared Free of the Virus

Guinea will be declared Ebola free on Tuesday by a representative of the World Health Organization, Agence France-Presse reports.

Guinea, one of the world’s most impoverished nations, was considered Ebola’s ground zero — the first victim in the latest outbreak of the deadly virus, 2-year-old Emile Ouamouno, died there in December 2013.

According to the WHO, the virus then quickly spread to close to 29,000 individuals in the region, killing around 11,300 of them, of which 2,500 were in Guinea.

Guinea’s last-known Ebola patient, a baby, was discharged in November.

“It’s the best year-end present that God could give to Guinea, and the best news that Guineans could hope for,” Ebola survivor Alama Kambou Dore told AFP.

[AFP]