Colombia declares its Zika epidemic over

July 26, 2016 02:42

Colombia has declared its Zika epidemic is over, but warned that the mosquito-borne virus, which is blamed for causing brain damage in babies, would continue circulating on a smaller scale.

Colombia has been the second hardest-hit country by the disease after Brazil, with nearly 100,000 cases and at least 21 babies born with microcephaly, or abnormally small heads.

But 10 months into the outbreak, the health ministry said the number of reported cases had dropped to between 600 and 700 a week.

"Colombia is the first country in the Americas to declare the end of the epidemic," Deputy Health Minister Fernando Ruiz told a news conference yetsterday.

The virus "now enters an endemic phase, in which a very small number of cases will undoubtedly remain in the future," he said. "It's a virus that's here to stay."

Officials had initially predicted Colombia would register 450,000 to 600,000 cases of Zika before the epidemic was over.

The number of babies affected could continue to rise, however.

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