Risk of Ebola spread falls, WHO says

The U.N.’s World Health Organization said Friday that the risk of Ebola spreading to other countries has fallen, two days after new data showed a significant decrease in the number of cases. 

{mosads}WHO noted that the number of cases and the geographic spread of them is down within Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. “The overall risk of international spread appears to have further reduced since January,” it said in a statement.

On Wednesday, there was more positive news, when the organization said that there were 30 cases of Ebola reported in the week ending April 5, the lowest number since May 2014. 

Still, WHO emphasized that there is “no place for complacency” and the goal is zero cases. More than 10,000 people have died from the outbreak. 

It expressed “continued concern” about the recent infection of healthcare workers and stressed the need to apply prevention techniques. 

An American health worker was flown back for treatment in the United States last month after becoming infected. The worker was released from the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., this week. 

WHO is also “very concerned” about “inappropriate” health measures it says are being taken by 40 countries, including quarantines of returning travelers, cancelation of flights and border closings. 

It says these measures interfere with the international response to Ebola. 

Quarantines briefly became a contentious issue in the United States last fall after New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) announced returning health workers would be isolated. 

In February, President Obama declared that the U.S. had “risen to the challenge” of Ebola and that all but 100 of the 2,800 U.S. troops in West Africa would return home by the end of April. 

While there has been progress, WHO said Friday that it is still designating the Ebola outbreak as a “public health emergency of international concern.”