Sierra Leone orders lockdown over Ebola

The Sierra Leone government has declared a
five-day lockdown in the country’s north to step
up efforts to contain the Ebola epidemic, while
making an exception for Christmas.
The lockdown is designed to intensify the
containment of the Ebola virus, the government
said on Wednesday.
“Muslims and Christians are not allowed to hold
services in mosques and churches throughout the
lockdown except for Christians on Christmas Day
[Thursday],” Alie Kamara, resident minister for the
Northern Region, told the AFP news agency.
“We are working to break the chain of
transmission,” he said.
Deputy Communication Minister Theo Nicol said
“the lockdown for five days… is meant for us to
get an accurate picture of the situation,”
adding: “Other districts will carry on with their
own individual lockdown after this if they deemed
it necessary.”
Ebola has killed more than 7,500 people, almost
all of them in West Africa. Sierra Leone, Liberia
and Guinea are the three countries worst-hit by
the epidemic.
Sierra Leone overtook Liberia recently as the
country with the highest number of Ebola
infections.
Kamara said shops and markets would be closed
throughout the period, and “no unauthorised
vehicles or motorcycle taxis” would be allowed
to circulate “except those officially assigned to
Ebola-related assignments.”
Among “key objectives” is to allow health workers
to identify patients, Kamara said.