Liberia will end Ebola curfew and reopen borders, says president

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Liberia plans to lift a night curfew imposed six months ago and reopen borders closed to contain the spread of Ebola, as the threat from the virus recedes, the president said on Friday. Liberia was once the epicentre of an epidemic that has killed over 9,000 people in West Africa, but new infections have fallen off dramatically in recent months. Its schools began reopening this week in another sign that life is returning to normal. "President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has ordered the lifting of the curfew imposed nationwide. It takes effect beginning Sunday, February 22, 2015," read a statement posted on the website of the presidency. No date was given for the reopening of the borders. A curfew from 9 p.m. (2100 GMT) to 6 a.m. (0600 GMT) was imposed on August 20, but modified the following month to begin at midnight. Several states in the region closed border crossings, suspended flights and banned travel to Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, the countries hardest hit by Ebola, despite World Health Organization warnings that such steps would do more harm than good.