President Barack Obama is set to announce on Wednesday that he will bring back nearly all of the 1,300 United States troops deployed in West Africa to fight the Ebola epidemic by April 30, the White House said late on Tuesday.
Obama, who was excoriated last fall for a slow start to his Ebola outbreak response, will hold a White House event to showcase how U.S leadership helped stem the epidemic, which has killed almost 9,000 people, mainly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, Reuters says.
The number of new cases each week has dropped to about 150 in recent reports, down from more than 1,000 new cases per week in October, the White House said.
“We are encouraged by the declining number of new Ebola cases in West Africa, but remain concerned about a recent increase in cases in Guinea, and an inability to further reduce case counts in Sierra Leone,” the White House said in a statement.
“Moreover, given that a single case can lead to flare-ups of the virus, we must not lose focus,” the White House said, noting about 100 U.S military personnel will remain in West Africa to help.
At the height of the epidemic, about 2,800 military personnel were deployed to West Africa.
Troops built 10 Ebola treatment units and a medical unit to treat infected healthcare workers.
At least 10 people are known to have been treated for Ebola in the U.S, four of them diagnosed with the disease on U.S. soil.
