WHO declares Sierra Leone free of Ebola transmissions

The World Health Organization officially declared Sierra Leone free from Ebola transmissions, marking 42 days, or two incubation periods, without an Ebola diagnosis.

The news prompted nationwide celebrations punctuated with sadness over the ebola-virus-transmission.html" target="_blank">death of more than 4,000 people from the virus. Celebrants took to the streets in the festive atmosphere in Freetown, while others read aloud names of the dead during a vigil for the hundreds of health care workers who died.

"It's kind of like a mixed emotion," Tunis Yahya, director of communications for the country's National Ebola Response Center, said. "People are happy, but also many are depressed because they lost their families."