A Red Cross nurse working in Ebola-ravaged Sierra Leone has died from the deadly disease.
The Associated Press reported that the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies announced that the male nurse died on Tuesday from the virus. He is the first Red Cross employee to have died in Sierra Leone.
The agency also said that the 29 people came in contact with the man. They are all now being monitored for symptoms.
BBC News noted that word of the nurse’s death follows new U.N. figures that the disease is actually declining in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia. The often-fatal virus has been plaguing the three West African nations since the outbreak began last year.
So far, more than 21,000 cases of Ebola have been reported with nearly 8,500 deaths. While most of the deaths have occurred in West Africa, eight people died in Nigeria, six in Mali and one person died from the virus in the U.S.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that EVD outbreaks in those countries have since ended.