being treated in Liberia’s 19 Ebola treatment centres had dropped to as low as two last week.
“This is an indication that Liberia is making significant progress in the fight against Ebola,” he told state radio.
When an American who travelled to Liberia died from the virus last year, public fears spiked in the US, and Washington officials scrambled to take measures to prevent any possible outbreak. Around $2.5 billion has been allocated by the US government to the Ebola response, while Washington has played a supportive role in securing IMF and World Bank funding.
President Barack Obama approved plans in September for more than 3,000 troops to head to Liberia and Senegal.
But the full contingent never had to be ordered in as the tide began to turn in the effort to contain the virus.
Volesky said the mission was originally expected to last up to 18 months, rotating thousands of troops.
The US forces, the vast majority of whom were stationed in Liberia, constructed Ebola treatment units, trained 1,500 health workers, provided logistical support for aid agencies and set up labs to test blood samples.
Although US troops in Liberia and Senegal had no contact with patients, the Pentagon has placed all military personnel returning from West Africa in quarantine as a precaution.
Officials so far have not detected the virus in any US soldier that worked in the region. The end of the mission comes with Liberia’s President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf visiting Washington to thank the American people for their contribution to Liberia’s recovery.
She told the government aid agency USAID American help had been “crucial, providing the much-needed support that enabled our people in the towns, villages and communities who were the victims to take ownership of the fight”, according to a statement on the Liberian presidency’s website.
“The US has been a great partner,” it quoted her as saying.
Sirleaf is due to meet Obama at the White House on Friday to discuss the Ebola response and the gruelling task of economic recovery. Earlier this month, schools in Liberia restarted lessons as Sirleaf vowed to eradicate the disease by mid-April.
Obama recently backed that goal and heralded a new phase in the fight against Ebola, one focused on extinguishing rather than containing the disease.