MONROVIA, Liberia – Liberia was recently declared an Ebola free nation by the World Health Organization. This came after the deadly epidemic ravaged the country and killed over 3000 Liberians.

To prevent the reemergence of the virus, the government is not leaving anything to chance. It is in a state of constant surveillance.

According to Dr. Francis Kateh, the deputy leader of the Incident Management System team, the government is constantly carrying out surveillance as it is a critical component of remaining an Ebola free nation.

He said that across the country, the Ministry of Health is monitoring patients who show signs and symptoms of Ebola and then sends their specimens for testing.

“The key component is how efficiently those suspected cases can be tested with results provided on time, [an important step in] remaining at zero,” Kateh said.

He said this process will continue in the country for an extended period. Since Liberia was declared an Ebola free nation on May 9, the Ministry of Health has tested over 150 patients, and their results came out negative.

“We have also put in place proper monitoring systems at our various points of entries across the country, and Liberian remains safe [even] with the new wave of outbreak in Guinea and Sierra Leone,” Kateh said.

Featured image courtesy of European Commission