(MENAFN- Qatar News Agency) The World Health Organization announced Saturday that Sierra Leone was free from Ebola, after no new case of the deadly virus was detected in the past 42 days.

"Sierra Leone achieved this milestone through tremendous hard work and commitment while battling the most unprecedented Ebola virus disease outbreak in human history," a WHO statement said. No new infections within a 42-day period amounts to two incubation cycles of the Ebola virus.
Ebola has killed more than 8,704 people in Sierra Leone since the first case was recorded in May 2014. More than 200 of the deaths were healthcare workers. Neighboring Liberia was also declared free of the virus in September.

WHO estimates that 11,300 people have died after contracting the Ebola virus across Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.