New Ebola death in Liberia

A teenage boy has died from Ebola in Liberia - more than a month after the country was declared Ebola free.

The corpse of a 17-year-old has tested positive for Ebola in Liberia.

The country's deputy health minister Tolbert Nyenswah, who is also head of the country's Ebola response, told The Associated Press that the teenage boy died on June 24 and was given a safe burial the next day.

Liberia had been the country hardest hit by last year's Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

The World Health Organisation declared Liberia to be Ebola free on May 9 after the country went 42 days without reporting a case.

"We have said over and over again there was possibility that there could be a resurgence of the virus in Liberia," Nyenswah said.

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The deadly virus, which has killed over 11,100 people mostly in West Africa in its worst outbreak ever, is hanging on stubbornly in Guinea, where the Ebola outbreak was first reported in March 2014, and in Sierra Leone.

It was not known how the 17-year-old contracted Ebola.

The town where the teenager died is far from the borders with Sierra Leone and Guinea, so Nyenswah said they are investigating whether his case might be linked to travel.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had warned earlier this month that as long as there is one Ebola case in West Africa "all countries are at risk".


2 min read

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Source: AAP



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