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Obama To Ebola Troops: ‘Come Home’

Obama To Ebola Troops: ‘Come Home’

All but 100 of the remaining 1,300 U.S. troops deployed to West Africa will be home by the end of April, President Barack Obama said, but he urged vigilance in Guinea, where new cases continue to be reported, and in Sierra Leone, where case count has not been reduced, TheGuardian reports.

Obama, who was criticized for slow response to the outbreak, said U.S. leadership helped stem the epidemic in which almost 9,000 people died, mostly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

In a CNN video, he said the Ebola fight will go in a new phase.

Obama got more than $5.4 billion from Congress to fight the disease in West Africa and at home, TheGuardian reports. Some of those funds are being used to support development of therapeutic drugs and Ebola vaccines.

“This money will still be used as we do the hard work of trying to get to zero (Ebola cases) and continue to invest in domestic preparedness for this and other highly infectious diseases,” a U.S. administration official said, according to TheGuardian.