Corpse tests positive for Ebola in Liberia, one month after country declared Ebola free

A resident of Liberia. — (Image credit: John Moore/Getty Images)

More than a month after the World Health Organization declared Liberia free of Ebola, the corpse of a 17-year-old tested positive for the virus.

WHO made the announcement after 42 days passed without a case of Ebola being reported. Since the teen's death on June 24, no other cases have been reported, Tolbert Nyenswah, the country's deputy health minister and head of the Ebola response team, told The Associated Press. "We have said over and over again there was possibility that there could be a resurgence of the virus in Liberia," Nyenswah said. "But our surveillance teams, our capacity is very strong."

Liberia was hit hard by the outbreak that started in 2014, and more than 11,100 people have died from Ebola in West Africa since last year. Officials are not sure how the young man contracted Ebola; the virus is still in Guinea and Sierra Leone, but he did not live close to those borders. Nyenswah said officials are looking into his recent travel, and added that residents of the teenager’s town, 30 miles south of Monrovia, have nothing to worry about. "There is no need for pandemonium," he said. "People should go about their normal business."

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Explore More

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.