The World Health Organisation said Thursday that Liberia was the last country to get the all-clear of the two-year scourge that claimed over 11,000 lives.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared an end to Ebola transmission in West Africa, news agencies report. France 24 quotes the United Nations Health Agency in Geneva as announcing that, “Today (January 14, 2016) the World Health Organization declares the end of the most recent outbreak of Ebola virus disease in Liberia and says all known chains of transmission have been stopped in West Africa.”

He is quoted to have noted that the end of Ebola transmission in West Africa is testament to what “we can achieve when multilateralism works as it should; bringing the international community to work alongside national governments in caring for their people. Let us pledge maintain our vigilance, our commitment and our solidarity for the people of West Africa and our world.”

The WHO said, in a statement, that “all known chains of transmission have been stopped in West Africa,” with no cases reported for at least 42 days in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, the three States hardest-hit by the outbreak. According to World Health Organisation Chief, Margaret Chan, “So much was needed and so much was accomplished by national authorities, heroic health workers, civil society, local and international organizations and generous partners.”

However, UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon has warned that the region can expect sporadic cases in the coming year but added “we also expect the potential and frequency of those flare-ups to decrease over time.” The end of active transmission of Ebola has been declared twice before in Liberia - only for the infection to re-emerge. Reason why experts say caution should continually be the watchword.

Liberia, the country worst hit by the outbreak with 4,800 deaths, discharged its last two patients from hospital – the father and younger brother of a 15-year-old victim – on December 3, 2015. At its peak, the deadliest outbreak in the history of the feared tropical virus that wrecked the economies and health systems of the three worst-hit West African nations after it emerged in southern Guinea in December 2013, devastated Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, with bodies pilling up in the streets and overwhelmed hospitals recording hundreds of new cases a week.

From a Guinean infant who was the first victim the epidemic quickly spread into neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone, notching up more deaths than all other Ebola outbreaks combined. The real toll is suspected to be much higher, with many Ebola deaths believed to have gone unreported.