The World Health Organization’s regional office for Africa has announced that the Marburg virus infection outbreak in Equatorial Guinea has come to an end.

The outbreak of the virus was declared on Feb. 13 and was the first of its kind in Equatorial Guinea.

The organization reported that 42 days after the final patient was released from the hospital following treatment, no new cases of Marburg, a lethal virus that is related to Ebola, were reported.

There were 12 fatalities as well as 17 laboratory-confirmed cases.

The WHO noted that 23 additional people were thought to have been killed by probable Marburg illness.

The announcement of the end of the outbreak in the central African country followed a similar move by Tanzania last week after no additional cases were reported.

i-News reported that the WHO Director General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, had earlier indicated that if no new cases are identified in Equatorial Guinea, the outbreak will be declared over this week.

In Africa, previous outbreaks and sporadic cases have been reported in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Equatorial Guinea, South Africa and Uganda.

Marburg Virus is extremely infectious and causes hemorrhagic fever, with a death rate of up to 88%.

It belongs to the same virus family as the Ebola virus.

 The illness develops rapidly, with a high fever, severe headache, and extreme malaise.