Global health authorities are declaring Guinea free of Ebola after more than 2,500 people died from the disease in the West African nation.

The designation leaves only Liberia still waiting for an official end to the epidemic.

World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim issued a statement congratulating the government and people of Guinea on reaching the milestone. He urged vigilance to “stay at zero cases.”

There will be a formal ceremony Wednesday to mark the declaration in Conakry, the capital.

In November, the last known Ebola patient in Guinea, a 21-day-old baby girl, recovered at a treatment center in Conakry.

Dozens of people in Guinea were still being monitored to see if they developed symptoms of the virus. But since no other cases were found, Guinea was declared Ebola-free.

The incubation period for Ebola is 21 days and, out of an abundance of caution, twice that period of time must pass before the World Health Organization declares the disease is defeated in a country.

Two neighboring countries also ravaged by the Ebola epidemic, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Sierra Leone was declared Ebola-free in November.  Liberia has twice been declared Ebola-free, only to see new cases emerge.

The epidemic, which began in Guinea, has killed more than 11,000 people in West Africa.
…