MOVIMIENTO DE TIERRAS

28 December – Patient Zero, a two-year old child, dies. 2014

18 March – Guinean health officials announce the outbreak of a haemorrhagic fever, reporting 35 cases and at least 23 dead. On 22 March, Guinea announces that the fever has been confirmed as Ebola.

End of March 2014 – WHO announces 112 cases and 70 deaths in Guinea as being suspected or confirmed due to Ebola. The Ministry of Health of Liberia confirms its first cases of EVD with two patients in Lofa and Nimba Counties. Three suspected cases have also been reported in Sierra Leone.

End of April – WHO announces 239 cases and 160 deaths overall in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

19 May – Guinea’s Minister of Health briefs the WHA on the Ebola situation in his country and notes encouraging results.

End of May – WHO announces 383 cases and 211 deaths overall in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

17 June – Liberia reports that Ebola has reached its capital, Monrovia.

21 June – MSF declares the second wave of the outbreak out of control and calls for massive resources to combat the epidemic.

End of June – WHO announces 779 cases and 481 deaths overall in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

12 July – The first case in the capital city of Sierra Leone, Freetown, is recorded.

20 July – An airline passenger, Patrick Sawyer, a top government official in the Liberian Ministry of Finance, introduces the virus from Liberia into Lagos, Nigeria. This is the first time that Ebola enters a new country via international air travel. That event triggers urgent plans to organize an Emergency Committee to assess the Ebola situation under the provisions in the International Health Regulations. Sawyer dies at a Nigerian hospital on 25 July.

29 July – Dr. Sheik Umar Khan, Sierra Leone’s top haemorrhagic fever expert, dies from Ebola. Dr. Khan is the most high-profile health worker to succumb to the disease thus far. Close to 500 health workers will die from the disease during the epidemic.

30 July – Liberia shuts schools and orders the quarantining of the worst-affected communities, employing its military. Sierra Leone begins to deploy troops to enforce quarantines.

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End of July – WHO announces 1,603 cases and 887 deaths overall in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

6-7 August – The first meeting of the WHO Emergency Committee under the IHR regarding the Ebola virus disease outbreak in West Africa is held by teleconference. The Committee reaches unanimous agreement that the Ebola outbreak should constitute a PHEIC according to the IHR, and conveys that finding, along with the Committee’s temporary recommendations, to the WHO Director-General.

8 August – The WHO Director-General declares the epidemic a PHEIC.

12 August – A WHO panel of experts approves the usage of unproven drugs and vaccines. Clinical trials are subsequently begun on several treatment and vaccine candidates.

27 August – WHO launches a “Roadmap” to respond to the epidemic, setting out strategies, categories of risk levels in countries and time-bound objectives.

29 August – Senegal confirms its first case of Ebola, a Guinean citizen who had travelled to Dakar. The man recovers and no other cases are reported. Senegal is declared Ebola-free on 17 October 2014.

End of August – WHO statistics show 3,707 cases and 1,808 deaths overall in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

18-19 September – An emergency session of the UN Security Council is convened on 18 September to assess the implications of the epidemic as a threat to international peace and security. The UN General Assembly and the Security Council approve resolutions creating UNMEER, the first time in history the UN has created a mission for a health emergency.

22 September – WHO reports an overall total of 20 cases and 8 deaths in Nigeria. Nigeria is declared Ebola-free on 20 October.

End of September – WHO statistics show 7,157 cases and 3,330 deaths overall in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

24 October – A two-year-old Guinean girl dies of Ebola in Mali, the country’s first case of Ebola. No cases of transmission occur.

27 October – A Guinean imam dies at a clinic in Bamako, Mali, in a second, unrelated chain of transmission. The case is not diagnosed until 11 November, when a nurse at the clinic is confirmed to have Ebola. A total of eight cases and six deaths are reported in total from Mali’s two outbreaks.

End of October – WHO statistics show 13,540 cases and 4,941 deaths overall in West Africa in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. WHO reports that the rate of infections in Liberia has slowed, due in part in changes in cultural mortuary practices. A more comprehensive assessment of patient databases leads to an increase in total cases recorded by WHO of an additional 3,792 cases, which have occurred throughout the epidemic period.

End of November – WHO statistics show 15,901 cases and 5,674 deaths overall in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

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18-19 December – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon pledges support for affected countries in West Africa to rebuild their health systems while travelling in the region.

End of December – WHO statistics show 20,171 cases and 7,890 deaths overall.

2015

18 January – The Malian government and WHO declare the country Ebola-free.

21 January – Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia all report the lowest weekly infection rates since August 2014.

5 March – Liberia releases its last confirmed case of Ebola. On 9 May, WHO declares Liberia to be Ebola-free.

29 June – A new outbreak of Ebola in Liberia leads to six cases and two deaths. In November 2015, a second recurrence leads to three further cases and one death in Liberia. Both outbreaks are linked to transmission by Ebola survivors.

31 July – An Ebola vaccine is reportedly proven effective in clinical trials in Guinea. 31 July – UNMEER ends, transferring its lead role in the response to WHO and partners. 7 November – WHO declares Sierra Leone to be Ebola-free.

29 December – WHO declares Guinea to be Ebola-free. 2016

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