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The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared Guinea free of Ebola, two years after the epidemic began in the country.

Guineans are expected to celebrate the landmark with concerts and fireworks.

Ebola killed more than 2,500 people in Guinea and a further 9,000 in Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Sierra Leone was declared free of Ebola in November, but new cases have emerged in Liberia, which had been declared Ebola-free in September.

A country is considered free of human-to-human transmission once two 21-day incubation periods have passed since the last known case tested negative for a second time.

Photo WHO

Photo WHO

Local health workers echoed a warning from medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres that vigilance was still vital despite the mood of celebration.

“We have to be very careful, because even if open transmission has been stopped, the disease has not been totally defeated,” said Alpha Seny Souhmah, a Guinean health worker and Ebola survivor.

According to the UN, 6,220 Guinean children have lost one or both parents to Ebola.

More than 100 health workers also lost their lives in the fight against the disease.

Many survivors still live in fear of the stigma and long-term side effects associated with the virus.

Guinea’s government has blamed the virus for poor economic performance and says it has also caused people to distrust the country’s health services.

President Alpha Conde has doubled the health budget since winning re-election in October 2015.

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Liberia is Ebola-free, the World Health Organization (WHO) announces confirming the African country has had no new cases in 42 days.

More than 4,700 deaths from Ebola have been recorded in Liberia, more than in any other affected country.

Neighboring Guinea and Sierra Leone continue to fight the outbreak.

Ebola disease has claimed over 11,000 lives across the region since last year.Liberia Ebola free 2015

The WHO regards a country Ebola-free after a 42-day period without a new case – twice the maximum incubation period.

The last confirmed death in Liberia was on March 27.

On May 9, the WHO said in a statement: “The outbreak of Ebola virus disease in Liberia is over.”

According to WHO officials, Ebola was eventually conquered in Liberia through a collective. Care centers and hand washing stations were set up to try to halt the disease, which spreads through contact with sick people.

Billboards went up with slogans such as “Ebola is real”, “wash your hands and don’t touch” and “don’t be the next victim”.

Liberia lost around 250,000 lives in a civil war ending in 2005.

Although Liberia has now been declared Ebola-free, correspondents say the outbreak will have a long-term impact on Liberia’s fragile economy.

The current Ebola outbreak is the deadliest in history. It initially centered on Guinea’s remote south-eastern region of Nzerekore in early 2014, and later spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone.

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