By Tobi Alli
A three-day curfew to contain the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone was declared on Friday morning, with most of the country’s six million inhabitants confined to their homes. However the curfew ended at midnight on Sunday, and will not be extended because it was a success, authorities announced.
Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Sarian Kamara said authorities discovered 22 new cases during the curfew. ‘Had they not been discovered, they would have greatly increased transmission,’ he said. ‘Between 60 and 70 Ebola victims had been buried in the past two days. Bodies of Ebola victims are highly contagious and their swift burial is considered key to containing the disease,’ he added.
Sierra Leone has been one of the countries worst affected by the outbreak, with more than 550 victims among the 2,600 deaths so far recorded, but neighbouring Liberia recorded a four-fold increase of Ebola patients and remains the country worst-hit by the epidemic, with more than half the number of total deaths.
However, the head of the country’s Emergency Operations Centre (EOC), Stephen Gaojia said there was a ‘very strong possibility’ that the curfew would be extended. ‘Even though the exercise has been a huge success so far, it has not been concluded in some metropolitan cities like Freetown and Kenema,’ he said.
The three-day curfew is the most aggressive measure taken against the virus yet by any of the affected West African countries.
