By Sola Ogundipe & Gabriel Olawale

The campaign to eliminate the Ebola virus marked a significant milestone on Saturday 9 of May, as the World Health Organisation, WHO, declared Liberia free of the Ebola disease.

At the time the announcement came, 42 days after the safe burial of the last confirmed Liberian victim of the Ebola, a period equal to twice the virus’ incubation period, Liberia was the first of the three worst affected countries to be rid of Ebola.

To date, Liberia recorded the most deaths with 4,716, followed by Sierra Leone with 3,903 and Guinea where 2,386 have died.

The success, which was described by WHO as a “monumental achievement for a country that reported the highest number of deaths in the largest, longest, and most complex outbreak since Ebola first emerged in 1976.”

“At the peak of transmission, which occurred during August and September 2014, the country was reporting from 300 to 400 new cases every week. During those 2 months, the capital city Monrovia was the setting for some of the most tragic scenes from West Africa’s outbreak: gates locked at overflowing treatment centres, patients dying on the hospital grounds, and bodies that were sometimes not collected for days.

Reacting to this, Liberia’s president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf urges caution and vigilance, saying “Let us celebrate, but stay mindful and vigilant.”