Massachusetts doctor cured of Ebola is returning to Liberia to continue working as a medical mission

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A Massachusetts doctor cured of Ebola says he's returning in January to Liberia, the West African country where he contracted the virus, to continue working at a medical mission.

Dr. Richard Sacra, 51,  said he plans to spend about four weeks at the same clinic outside Monrovia where he has served for more than 20 years.

Sacra contracted Ebola in August and underwent treatment at an Omaha, Nebraska, hospital. 

He returned to Massachusetts on Sept. 25.

Former Ebola patient Dr. Richard Sacra seen speaking in a news conference at the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Neb., in September

Sacra is a University of Massachusetts Medical School faculty member. He says doctors have said he is now immune to Ebola.

Sacra made the comments following a Tuesday news conference in Boston announcing a $1 million state grant to help develop a faster, more accurate test for diagnosing Ebola.

In the fight against Ebola in Sierra Leone, officials are planning a house-to-house search for hidden Ebola cases in the capital and surrounding areas in an effort to stem the disease's rampant spread, the government said Tuesday.

The government has periodically restricted movements into and out of hot spots in order to slow Ebola infections. 

Dr. Richard Sacra is seen working in Liberia before he got sick - he was the third American doctor reported to have contracted the Ebola virus while treating the African breakout

In September, it locked down the entire country to look for sick people. With the disease now spreading fastest in Sierra Leone, authorities are ramping up their response.

In a statement Tuesday, President Ernest Bai Koroma said officials will begin a house-to-house search Wednesday for sick people in the Western Area, which includes Freetown. 

It was not clear, however, if people had to stay in their homes and, if so, for how long. More than half of new infections are now occurring in the capital and its surrounding areas, the statement said.

In the world's largest Ebola outbreak, around 18,500 people have been infected, mostly in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia. Of those, more than 6,800 have died.

Dr. Richard Sacra pictured being treated at the Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska

In Mali officials have released from quarantine the last 13 people being monitored for Ebola, and the country could be declared free of the virus next month if no further cases are recorded, the World Health Organization said today. 

The epidemic has overwhelmed the health systems in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, where there were too few doctors and nurses to begin with. Hundreds of foreign health workers have flooded into the region to help.

Another 187 from Ethiopia have left for the three countries, the African Union said Tuesday. The AU has promised 1,000 health workers from its member states to combat Ebola.