EU Pledges Support to West Africa After End of Ebola Outbreak

The European Union pledged to support West African countries affected by Ebola, as an end to the most recent Ebola outbreak was declared, the European Commission said in a statement Thursday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Earlier in the day, World Health Organization (WHO) declared Liberia Ebola-free and announced that all known chains of the virus transmission had been stopped in West Africa. WHO stressed that despite the end of the outbreak, the disease could flare up in the region in future.

"The EU’s commitment to support the affected countries remains firm. We will stand by Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea for as long as it takes," EU Ebola Coordinator Christos Stylianides said, as quoted in the statement.

The bloc was setting up European Medical Corps to help medical teams and equipment from EU member countries to be better prepared for future health crises in the region, Stylianides added.

The most recent Ebola outbreak began in December 2013, spreading across Western Africa from Guinea to Liberia and Sierra Leone, killing over 11,000 people in these three countries.

In late 2015, the WHO declared Guinea and Sierra Leone free of the deadly disease. Liberia was already declared Ebola-free in May 2015, but more cases of the disease had been reported since then.

A country is declared free of Ebola if there are no more recorded cases of the disease in 42 days after the last confirmed patient tested negative for Ebola virus twice.