A 42 day countdown to declare Sierra Leone Ebola free started on Tuesday, 25th August 2015 following the discharge of the last patient, Adama Sankoh from hospital. The 42 days is double the incubation period of 21 days. The incubation period is the time between contraction and manifestation of symptoms in an infected person. The discharged patient contracted the virus after her son died from the disease late last month. She was presented with a certificate by President Ernest Bai Koroma following her discharge.

“The Ebola fight is not yet over – go and tell members of your community that” the president said. “Go back to your community and continue to live life as you used to.” The Independent reported that Sankoh, whose 23-year-old son contracted Ebola in the capital, Freetown, before traveling to his home village, thanked everyone who provided her care during her illness. She also vowed to be the last person infected in Sierra Leone with the virus. “Although my child died of Ebola I am very happy that I have survived today,” she said upon leaving the Ebola treatment centre in Mateneh village on the outskirts of Makeni, the president’s hometown.