Sierra Leone’s last known Ebola patient has been released from hospital, Col. Sahr Foday, the head of the Sierra Leone Army Medical Unit, said yesterday.

Thirty-eight-year-old Memunatu Kalokoh is the aunt of Mariatu Jalloh, the 21-year-old student who died of the virus last month in the same week that the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the region Ebola-free.

A few days ago, WHO officials started the release of more than 70 people following close observation in the country’s northern area, allowing authorities to begin a six-week countdown before declaring the West African country free of the virus for the second time.

Sierra Leone was first declared free of Ebola in November before Jalloh’s case emerged and raised fears of a new upsurge. Health experts expressed concern that many of the routine procedures established to contain the virus were not carried out in her case.

The WHO has declared a 42-day countdown after which the outbreak will be declared over if there are no new cases, the Health ministry spokesman, Sidi Yahyah Tunis, said. The 42-day countdown represents twice the length of the virus’s incubation period.

The WHO believe another case is likely to re-emerge since most people who came in contact with Jalloh before she died remain missing even though the health ministry has urged them to come forward. However, the WHO has promised to investigate all deaths in Sierra Leone until June to watch for new cases of Ebola.