New Ebola cases in the three West African countries worst affected by the deadly outbreak of the virus are declining, weekly UN figures show.
Sierra Leone and Guinea both recorded the lowest weekly total of confirmed Ebola cases since August.
Liberia, which reported no new cases on two days last week, had its lowest weekly total since June. The death toll from the world’s worst Ebola outbreak has reached 8,429 with 21,296 cases so far.
According to the latest World Health Organization (WHO) report, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone now all have sufficient capacity to bury all the people known to have died from Ebola.
But it said under-reporting of deaths meant that not all burials were being done safely.
‘Suspicious’
While cases were decreasing in Sierra Leone, it remained the worst-affected country, with western areas still reporting the most new transmissions, the WHO said.
Last week, there were 59 new reported cases in the capital, Freetown.
The BBC’s Alhassan Sillah in Guinea says the authorities there are stepping up Ebola information campaigns as in some areas people are still suspicious of official attempts to fight the disease.
Over the weekend, two policemen were killed by villagers who feared they had brought Ebola to the western district of Forecariah. Earlier this month, the outgoing head of the UN team fighting Ebola, Anthony Banbury, said he believed cases of the virus would be brought down to zero by the end of 2015.