Adama Sankoh danced her way down the red carpet, past jubilant onlookers — including Sierra Leonean President Ernest Bai Koroma — and out of the Ebola treatment center in the city of Makeni.
It was a personal triumph for the 35-year-old Sierra Leonean but also, hopefully, the beginning of the end of her nation’s Ebola nightmare.
With Sankoh’s release, Sierra Leone begins its 42-day countdown to Ebola-free status.
Photo: AP
Healthworkers in masks and full protective clothing danced and cheered as they escorted Sankoh from the high risk zone of the treatment center, through the chlorinated shower and onto a red carpet.
There she was treated to a discharge-and-certification ceremony attended by Cabinet ministers and development workers.
“It was like she was a rock star. There were at least 100 people there — politicians, press — everyone wanting a photograph of her,” a spokesman for the International Medical Corps in Makeni said.
However, the joy was tempered with caution. Sierra Leone must now anxiously await the passage of 42 days without a new case of the disease before it can officially be declared Ebola-free by the WHO.
Even then, officials know there is a risk of the disease re-emerging, either from neighboring Guinea, which is not yet Ebola-free, or from within the population.
Across the border in Liberia, fresh cases of the disease emerged seven weeks after the nation had been declared Ebola-free.
In addition, while there are no more patients inside the treatment centers, outside Ebola has left a legacy of grief, economic hardship and trauma.
Sankoh, whose 23-year-old son Moussa had contracted Ebola in the capital, Freetown, before traveling to his home village to mark the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan last month, thanked everyone who had cared for her.
She urged all citizens to continue to observe preventative measures, such as hand-washing and safe burial practices and called on the government not to forget Ebola survivors, who are now highly vulnerable.
She also vowed to be the last person infected with the virus.
“Although my child died of Ebola, I am very happy that I have survived today,” she told reporters.
Koroma said Sankoh’s discharge was “the beginning of the end of Ebola in Sierra Leone,” which recorded its first case in May last year.
“Before we get to 42 days, we must stay the course and remain vigilant,” he said, asking the nation to remember the 3,586 people who are known to have died of the virus in Sierra Leone.
Sierra Leonean National Ebola Response Centre director OB Sisay said authorities know there is still a high risk that more cases could emerge.
He said the “job is far from over” in a nation that registered 450 cases per week during the peak of the disease last year.
“For me it is a celebration, but also a day of remembrance for all those who have lost their lives, and a day for appreciation of the thousands of national and international people who have fought against this disease. So it is mixed emotion today,” said International Medical Corps medical director Vanessa Wolfman, who has been in Sierra Leone for three years.
Nearly 13,500 cases of Ebola have been recorded in Sierra Leone since the start of the outbreak.
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