March 2024

Ever since Sierra Leone’s last Ebola patient was released, the nation has been nervously waiting to be declared free of the disease. The country needed 42 days, two incubation periods without any new case to be officially Ebola-free. Sierra Leone was hit the hardest with the disease. The Ebola virus infected 14,000 people in the country, killing 4,000 of them. Evidently, the economy was crippled.

A cause for celebration

When the moment everyone had been waiting for finally arrived, thousands of people gathered in the capital, Freetown, at midnight to celebrate. There were also many festivities held across the country, with speeches from political and religious figures, singing, dancing, an ambulance exposition from the Red Cross and balloon releases.

 “Sierra Leone can now focus on rebuilding its economy and harnessing our community spirit and national ambition to bring back foreign investors, strengthen the private sector, diversify its economic activity and bring growth and prosperity to the people of this country,” said John Sisay, chief executive of the mining company Sierra Rutile.

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Mixed feelings

The celebration is bittersweet considering how many people lost their lives fighting the disease. Now that the disease is gone, people have mixed feelings:  

“It’s kind of like a mixed emotion […] People are happy, but also many are depressed because they lost their families.” said Tunis Yahya, director of communications for the country’s National Ebola Response Center.

These mixed emotions were clear in Freetown. Some were lighting candles to honor the memory of the victims while others were dancing in celebration. Names of the deceased were read out loud and in the center of the capital, there were people gathered around a giant cotton tree for a vigil.

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Staying vigilant

Dr. Oliver Johnson, who worked at an Ebola clinic in Freetown, said:

“[For] everyone I’ve spoken to, there’s a sense of relief that this might finally be over and maybe a bit of disbelief that after so many false starts, or false ends, we might finally be there.”  

There is yet another waiting period the country must endure – a 90-day period of extra surveillance. Officials will be extra vigilant until February 5th to make certain no new cases arise. There are still cases being reported in Guinea therefore, border security will be heightened.

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SEE ALSO: A 16-Year-Old Girl Wins The Google Science Fair. She Found A Simpler Way To Detect Ebola.