Guinea has said it will postpone its October 2 Independence Day celebrations because of the Ebola epidemic that has claimed more than 550 lives in the country.

The postponement, to a yet-to-be-fixed date in December, was decided “in light of the accelerated health emergency plan” adopted earlier this month to combat the deadly tropical virus, the president’s office said in a statement.

The delay will allow authorities to put in place “all health and public safety measures to do especially with movements and gatherings of people during the festivities,” the statement said.

Guinea, where the deadliest Ebola outbreak on record began at the start of the year before spreading to Liberia and Sierra Leone, gained independence from France in 1958.

The epidemic has claimed more than 2,400 lives, the UN’s World Health Organization said last week.

Conakry declared a national health emergency on August 13.