The Government of Sierra Leone, through its Ministry of Health and Sanitation, declared that the Lassa Fever epidemic in Tonkolili District in the Northern part of Sierra Leone no longer considered to be a health emergency. The pronouncement came Tuesday 7th January 2020 after it was confirmed by the World Health Organization (WHO). Tonkolili district and its previously affected areas are now declared safe and free from Lassa Fever.

Lassa Fever, named after the town in Nigeria where the illness first discovered in 1969 caused by a hemorrhagic virus that belongs to the same family as Marburg, and Ebola, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). It is mainly spread by rodents and endemic to parts of West Africa: including Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia, and Nigeria.

By Sylvester Samba