Dakar (AFP)

Guinea and the WHO should announce on Saturday the end of the Ebola epidemic which, if no case is reported at the last minute, will have been defeated in a few months thanks to the experience acquired in 2013-2016, the worst epidemic of this hemorrhagic fever.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Guinean health authorities highlighted on Thursday the speed with which, except for bad news by Saturday and despite the concomitance with the Covid-19 pandemic, the health services are overcome the contagion since the death of a nurse at the end of January in the region of Nzérékoré (South-East), compared to 2013-2016.

The epidemic started at the time of this same forest Guinea.

It had spread to neighboring Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Between the end of 2013 and 2016, the worst epidemic in the world since the identification of the virus in 1976 had killed more than 11,300 people, mainly in Guinea (2,500 dead), Liberia and Sierra Leone, three of the poorest countries in the world.

An undervalued balance sheet by the WHO's own admission.

In 2021, Ebola has caused five deaths since a nurse and a number of witnesses to her burial on February 1 in Gouéké died, we learned from the WHO office in Guinea;

23 cases of contamination have been notified, of which 16 are confirmed and 7 are probable.

After having, according to international rules, officially declared the state of epidemic on February 14, Guinea should reach 42 days without a new case on Friday, i.e. twice the maximum incubation period, the threshold set for the declaration of the end of the disease. 'epidemic.

"We are getting ready in the coming days to notify you of the end of the circulation of the Ebola virus, and precisely on the date of June 19, 2021", Saturday, said the Guinean Minister of Health, General Physician Rémy Lamah, during a WHO video conference.

A ceremony is scheduled that day in the Nzérékoré region with Guinean and international actors in the fight, but also representatives of local communities and cured patients.

- Continuous vigilance -

"Thanks to new innovations and lessons learned, Guinea was able to contain the virus in just four months, preventing the disease from spreading beyond the country's borders," said the WHO director for the 'Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti.

The two doctors cited the existence, since the previous epidemic, of treatment centers, the training of staff, the development of vaccines and new treatments, as well as the lessons learned from the period 2013-2016.

It then took months to establish effective coordination, recalled the Guinean minister.

"The availability of epidemic treatment centers built across the country has enabled us to quickly take care of suspected and confirmed patients with a technical platform," he said.

Unlike in the past, healthcare workers were not infected, he said.

Patients suspected of carrying the Ebola virus were quickly tested and followed up, their contacts identified, added the WHO official.

Vaccination of high-risk people began nine days after the outbreak was declared, and nearly 11,000 people are now vaccinated, she said.

Neighboring countries have contributed to the fight by practicing border screening, she added.

“We have become faster, more efficient and smarter in the fight against Ebola,” she said.

She warned, however, that "the work (was) not finished" and that vigilance remained essential.

She cited reports that the 2021 outbreak was epidemiologically linked to the previous one, hinting at the possibility of a future resurgence.

After the declaration of the end of the epidemic, Guinea should enter a period of reinforced epidemiological surveillance for 90 days, said the WHO in Conakry.

© 2021 AFP