(VOVworld) - Ebola has returned to Liberia, health officials revealed Tuesday, showing up in a 17-year-old boy who tested positive for the disease. Liberian deputy health minister Tolbert Nyenswah said health officials have already traced and quarantined a number of people who may have had contact with the boy who is from Margibi, a rural area close to the Liberia’s capital, Monrovia and its principal international airport.
Over the course of the epidemic, which began in December, 2013, a total of 11,207 people have died, according to the World Health Organisation. 43% of the deaths were in Liberia, where the outbreak reached a peak last August and October, when hundreds of new cases were confirmed each week. The later case represents a setback for Liberia, which was declared Ebola free on May 9 after going 42 days without a new case.