MOSCOW, January 6 (Sputnik) — The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Ministry of Health in Iraq said in an official statement on Monday that the country is Ebola-free after several suspected cases reported by local media.
"There is no suspected case of Ebola virus disease in Iraq as of 5 January 2015," the statement said.
On December 31, 2014, local newspapers reported a rumor of unconfirmed cases of the Ebola virus in Mosul, a city in northern Iraq. The news was relayed in media agencies outside of Iraq.
The WHO and the Iraqi Ministry of Health stated that they remain vigilant and have mounted surveillance efforts to guarantee early detection and the successful management of any potential Ebola cases in Iraq.
The current outbreak of the Ebola virus disease started in Guinea in December 2013, spreading into Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Senegal and Mali in 2014.
As of December 31, 2014, the WHO estimated that Ebola had killed 8,004 people out of over 20,000 reported cases.
