Sierra Leone confined its six (m) million people to their homes on
Friday for the next three days, as the Ebola-ravaged country began what
was believed to be the most sweeping lockdown against disease since the
Middle Ages.
In a desperate effort to bring the outbreak under control, thousands of health care workers began going house to house in crowded urban neighbourhoods and remote villages, hoping to find and isolate infected people.
President Ernest Bai Koroma urged his countrymen to cooperate.
In remarks broadcast on Friday, Koroma told the people of Sierra Leone that "all of us must play our part. This is because if just one person does not play his or her part to contain this disease, the trial will not end."
Health officials said they planned to urge the sick to leave their homes and seek treatment.
There was no immediate word on whether people would be forcibly removed, though authorities warned that anyone on the streets during the lockdown without an emergency pass would be subject to arrest.
More than 2,600 people have died in West Africa over the past nine months in the biggest outbreak of the virus ever recorded, with Sierra Leone accounting for more than 560 of those deaths.
Many fear the crisis will grow far worse, in part because sick people afraid of dying at treatment centres are hiding in their homes, potentially infecting others.
However, international experts warned there might not be enough beds for new patients found during the lockdown, which runs through Sunday.
Most people seemed to be taking the order seriously, and there were no immediate reports of resistance.
In a desperate effort to bring the outbreak under control, thousands of health care workers began going house to house in crowded urban neighbourhoods and remote villages, hoping to find and isolate infected people.
President Ernest Bai Koroma urged his countrymen to cooperate.
In remarks broadcast on Friday, Koroma told the people of Sierra Leone that "all of us must play our part. This is because if just one person does not play his or her part to contain this disease, the trial will not end."
Health officials said they planned to urge the sick to leave their homes and seek treatment.
There was no immediate word on whether people would be forcibly removed, though authorities warned that anyone on the streets during the lockdown without an emergency pass would be subject to arrest.
More than 2,600 people have died in West Africa over the past nine months in the biggest outbreak of the virus ever recorded, with Sierra Leone accounting for more than 560 of those deaths.
Many fear the crisis will grow far worse, in part because sick people afraid of dying at treatment centres are hiding in their homes, potentially infecting others.
However, international experts warned there might not be enough beds for new patients found during the lockdown, which runs through Sunday.
Most people seemed to be taking the order seriously, and there were no immediate reports of resistance.
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