MONROVIA, Liberia — A 15-year-old boy died of Ebola near the Liberian capital Monrovia on Tuesday, the Health Ministry said.
The West African country was declared free from Ebola in September.
The teen was at an Ebola treatment unit when he died, Liberia’s chief medical officer and deputy health minister, Francis Kateh, said at a press conference.
Two of his family members tested positive for the virus on Thursday. The family lives in the northern Monrovia suburb of Paynesville.
Three new cases of Ebola were confirmed in Liberia last week.
Kateh said 152 people who had contact with three confirmed Ebola patients, including 25 health care workers, are under observation.
Ebola, a virus transmitted through contact with blood and other bodily fluids, causes massive hemorrhaging and has a fatality rate of up to 90 percent if left untreated.
Ebola has already killed more than 4,800 people in Liberia. The World Health Organization estimates that 11,300 people have died after contracting the Ebola virus across Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
