GENEVA
Spain is now free of the deadly virus Ebola, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday.
Spanish healthcare worker Teresa Romero was the first person to have contracted the disease while treating two Ebola patients outside of West Africa.
Romero tested negative for the second time on October 21 and today marks 42 days since the healthcare worker tested negative, said the health organization.
The end of an Ebola virus disease outbreak in a country can be declared after 42 days have passed. This is twice the maximum incubation period for Ebola. No new cases have been detected, according to the WHO.
All 145 hospital employees who were in contact with Romero during her stay at the hospital were also actively monitored and all completed their 21-day monitoring period without developing Ebola virus disease, said the health organization.
WHO has reduced the Ebola death toll by nearly 1000 after a counting error, and revised the statistics, now showing 5,987 deaths in the three hardest-hit West African countries. WHO Spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told reporters on Tuesday that the Ebola death toll had mistakenly included non-Ebola deaths.
www.aa.com.tr/en
