Highlights

• The WHO reports a total of 21,381 cases (suspected, probable, and confirmed) and 8,474 deaths in the four countries currently affected in West Africa (Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Mali).

• The World Health Organization reported on January 15, 2015, that the number of new Ebola cases reported this week in Guinea (42), Liberia (8), and Sierra Leone (184, including 59 in the city of Freetown) was at its lowest level since last August: the number of new cases reported is showing a “real decline” and constitutes a “first optimistic sign,” the WHO stated.

• Once again, the three most affected countries (Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone) are reporting new cases distributed very unevenly across districts. Sierra Leone remains the most affected country, although the number of new cases per week has been falling sharply for the past four weeks. Transmission is still active in the three capitals: Conakry, Freetown, and Monrovia.

• In Mali, where local transmission has been reported since November 2014 in the capital, Bamako, the toll remains unchanged at 8 cases and 6 deaths. No new cases have been reported since November 25. The end of the epidemic in Mali was announced on January 18, 2015, in Bamako, by the Malian Minister of Health and the head of the UNMEER Mission in that country.