For the first time since the Ebola outbreak took hold last summer, there have been fewer than 100 new confirmed cases in a week in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
A combined total of 99 confirmed cases were reported in the three West African countries in the week to 25 January, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). This is the first time that the numbers have dropped below 100 since the week ending June 29, 2014.
There were 65 cases in Sierra Leone, 30 in Guinea, and just four in Liberia, the WHO said.
The fight against the disease is now entering a final stage, the Guardian reported, with the massive effort that went into building treatment centres now being diverted into tracing anyone who has come into contact with Ebola sufferers. The disease has killed 8,795 people in the three west African countries since the summer.
The WHO reported last week that cases were finally starting to slow across the three countries. Sierra Leone's president last week also ended the quarantine measures put in place during the outbreak.
While the WHO has welcomed the recent falls, it also cautioned in an interview with the BBC last week that there was "no basis for complacency," as the virus could still show a resurgence.