Barely two weeks after a 67-year-old food trader lost her life, a 16-year-old girl also died of Ebola in Sierra Leone on Sunday.
This is contained in a statement by the National Ebola Response Centre (NERC) issued on Monday.
The statement said the teenager died in the northern city of Makeni, a neighbouring district to Kambia where the food trader died.
It will be recalled that President Ernest Bai Koroma on August 24 led a celebratory event marking the discharge of the last known Ebola patient in the country from a hospital in Makeni.
The NERC expressed disappointment at the new death but stated that it was well prepared to cope with the situation, while dispelling fears that the two deaths were linked.
The body said the girl had displayed symptoms of the disease as early as Tuesday without being taken to hospital until Sunday, while stating that her teacher and classmates were now being monitored for Ebola-related symptoms.
The World Health Organisation says a country can be declared Ebola-free 42 days after the last confirmed case has tested negative twice for the virus.