In a setback, a new Ebola case has been confirmed in Liberia. The country was declared free of the disease on Sept. 3.
Minister of Health Minister Bernice Dahn announced that the patient is a 10-year-old boy who lived with his parents and three siblings in Paynesville, a suburb east of the capital Monrovia.
Dahn said “The hospital is currently decontaminating the unit. All of the healthcare workers who came in contact with the patient have been notified,” she said told a news conference.
“We know how Ebola spreads and we know to stop Ebola but we must remain vigilant and work together.”
Bruce Aylward, who leads the Ebola response for the U.N. World Health Organization also added that “The family obviously is at particular risk and are being investigated right now because two of the siblings have been unwell over the last two days so they are also being investigated.”
The virus has killed about 11,300 people in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, but Sierra Leone was declared free of the virus on Nov. 7 and Guinea has begun its countdown to the end of the virus.