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Ebola emergency in West Africa over - WHO

08:07 am on 30 March 2016

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says West Africa's Ebola outbreak no longer constitutes a threat to international public health, declaring an end to a nearly 20-month emergency that has killed more than 11,000 people.

WHO director-general Margaret Chan has accepted the recommendations of a committee of independent experts who also called for lifting the remaining travel and trade restrictions affecting Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

WHO said all original chains of virus transmission have ended, but a new chain in Guinea has infected eight people, including seven who have died, adding that the virus can persist in semen for over a year.