UN peacekeeper recovers from Ebola

In this photo taken on Nov. 23, 2014, a child grabs food from a woman in the Meliandou village, Guinea, believed to be Ebola's ground zero. The official theory is that somehow the virus was transmitted from fruit bats to humans and spread through the region plagued with bad roads, dense population, and a problematic health care system along a porous borders that people used to cross regularly –before the outbreak—whether to join family or engage in trade.

A Nigerian peacekeeper serving in the UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) has recovered from Ebola, media reported.

“He will resume duties while receiving psychological counselling and close monitoring,” Xinhua quoted a UN spokesman as saying.

The peacekeeper was earlier evacuated to the Netherlands on Dec 6 and has now recovered, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at a daily news briefing.

Liberia is one of the three hardest hit countries in West Africa in the Ebola crisis, the other two countries are Sierra Leone and Guinea.

Earlier this month, figures from the World Health Organization (WHO) put the total number of Ebola cases at 18,603 and the death toll at 6,915.

The UN report said the number of new cases is declining in Liberia, “fluctuating” in Guinea and may have stopped increasing in Sierra Leone. It noted there have been no new cases reported in Mali since Nov 24.

Liberia still has the highest death toll from the epidemic at 3,290, reports said.