Sierra Leone releases its last known Ebola patient

MATENEH, Sierra Leone (AP) — Health authorities in Sierra Leone released the country's last known Ebola patient from a hospital on Monday, a milestone that allows the nation to begin a 42-day countdown to being declared free of the virus that has killed nearly 4,000 people here.

If Sierra Leone is declared free of transmission of the Ebola virus it would leave just one country with the disease — Guinea — after an epidemic that has killed more than 11,200 people since late 2013.

[...] first Sierra Leone must go 42 days — equal to two incubation periods of 21 days — without another Ebola case in order for the World Health Organization to make such a declaration.