The Ebola mission in Liberia has officially ended as the United States military completed the task of building treatment facilities to combat the outbreak in Liberia on Thursday. This is an indication that a year-long epidemic in West Africa is fast declining.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf passionately expressed her gratitude to the American people as the United States formally wound up its successful five-month mission, initially expected to last between nine and 12 months.

Closely 10,000 people have died in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone over the past year. Over 4,000 of those deaths were in Liberia, but the number of new cases has dropped in recent months, and as such many treatment centres are empty and the mission drawing to a close.

“While our large scale military mission is ending…the fight to get to zero cases will continue and the (Joint Force Command) has ensured capabilities were brought that will be sustained in the future,” said U.S. Army Major General Gary Volesky.

Over 2,800 troops were deployed when Liberia was at the point of being the worst Ebola epidemic on record. These U.S. combatants set up mobile testing labs, built treatment centres and provided logistical and transportation support. During the course of the operation Military medical teams also trained about 1,500 local health workers.

According to a report by Reuters, the force will withdraw over the coming weeks but more than 100 soldiers would remain in the country for several months to monitor the disease. “We are not turning our backs. We’re transitioning to a civilian operation that is already supporting more than 10,000 civilians who are working in the region,” U.S. Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Linda Thomas Greenfield said on Wednesday.