Ebola: Sierra Leone Begins 3-Day Countrywide Lockdown

Sierra Leone on Friday began a three-day countrywide lockdown in an attempt to halt the spread of Ebola Virus Disease.

Alfred Conteh, Head, National Ebola Response Centre said on Friday said the lockdown followed 55 reported new Ebola cases last week.

Conteh said 6 million people would have to stay at home until Sunday, while health workers go from door to door to collect information on new Ebola infections and deaths.

He said health workers would focus their efforts on Freetown and the country’s northern region.

Patrick Fatoma, another Ebola Response Centre official, expressed the hope that the exercise would be the last push to end the Ebola outbreak.

Sierra Leone’s government said a similar exercise which took place last September was a success in slowing down the transmission of the virus.

Sierra Leone is one of the countries hardest hit by the Ebola epidemic, with 11,866 reported infections and 3,764 deaths.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) record indicates that in the last 16 months the number of people who have contracted Ebola has reached 24,927 worldwide, with 10,338 deaths.

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