Ebola crisis: New cases declining in West Africa

New Ebola cases in the three West African countries worst affected by the deadly outbreak of the virus are declining, weekly UN figures show.

Sierra Leone and Guinea both recorded the lowest weekly total of confirmed Ebola cases since August.

Liberia, which reported no new cases on two days last week, had its lowest weekly total since June.

The death toll from the world's worst Ebola outbreak has reached 8,429 with 21,296 cases so far.

According to the latest World Health Organization (WHO) report, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone now all have sufficient capacity to bury all the people known to have died from Ebola.

But it said under-reporting of deaths meant that not all burials were being done safely.

Schools to open

While cases were decreasing in Sierra Leone, it remained the worst-affected country, with western areas still reporting the most new transmissions, the WHO said.

Last week, there were 59 new reported cases in the capital, Freetown.

At the scene: Umaru Fofana, BBC Africa, Sierra Leone

The spirit of Freetown seems to be back with residents in the capital celebrating, albeit quietly, the low Ebola infection figures. For over a week the reported daily infections have been in single figures and on Tuesday there were only two deaths.