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UN closes Ebola emergency mission

Geneva (dpa) - The UN Ebola Emergency Response Mission was winding down on Friday, with the World Health Organisation to once again take the reins in the fight against the deadly virus that has killed over 11 000 people in West Africa since 2013.

"We have made considerable progress, but the crisis is not yet over," the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on announcing the move.

Guinea and Sierra Leone reported less than five new cases each last week. After having recently been declared Ebola-free, Liberia saw six new cases in July, but none over the past two weeks.

The emergency mission had been set up last September in reaction to a slow response by WHO to the outbreak, and a lack of coordination between various aid organisations.

WHO Director General Margaret Chan was scheduled to report about her efforts to reform her organization in the wake of the Ebola failings on Friday in Geneva.

Nearly 11 300 people have died and 27 800 have been infected in the three West African countries since the epidemic broke out at the end of 2013.

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