Liberia lifts state of emergency amid signs of progress in fight against Ebola

MONROVIA, Liberia – Liberia’s president is lifting a state of emergency imposed to control an Ebola outbreak that has ravaged the country and two other West African nations.

In a nationwide address on Thursday, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said that the move does not mean the outbreak is over, but that enough progress has been made to lift emergency measures.

Those measures closed schools, banned large public gatherings, shut some markets and allowed the government to restrict people’s movements. Schools remain closed, but officials are discussing how and when to reopen them.

Liberia is seeing infections fall in some areas, although other hot spots are popping up. Sirleaf warned that the country must continue to work to defeat the disease.