Sierra Leone’s 3-Day Ebola Lockdown is Over

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Mon, 2015-03-30 10:26 — mike kraft

Sierra Leone Ebola lockdown exposes hundreds of suspected cases

REUTERS March 30, 015

(Scroll down for earlier story.)

FREETOWN - A three-day lockdown in Sierra Leone has exposed hundreds of potential new cases of Ebola, aiding efforts to bring to an end an epidemic that has already killed 3,000 people in the country.

Officials ordered the country's 6 million residents to stay indoors or face arrest during the period that ended late on Sunday as hundreds of health officials went door-to-door looking for hidden patients and educating residents about the virus.

Reports to authorities of sick people increased by 191 percent in Western Area, which includes the capital, during the lockdown compared with the previous weekend, said Obi Sesay of the National Ebola Response Center.

"Tests are being carried out on their blood samples, and the results will be in by Wednesday," Sesay said, adding that 173 of the patients in Freetown met an initial case definition for Ebola.

In the rest of the country, there was a 50 percent increase in sick people reported in the lockdown's first two days, Sesay said.

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http://news.yahoo.com/sierra-leone-ebola-lockdown-exposes-hundreds-suspected-cases-175412592.html

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Sierra Leone three day lockdown comes to a close

VOICE OF AMERICA by Nina de Vries March 30, 2015

FREETOWN—Sierra Leone’s three-day lock down has come to a close. People were told to stay at home across the country while volunteers went door to door educating people on Ebola prevention and encouraging sick people to seek treatment.

Many officials are referring to this massive shutdown as the “Zero Ebola Campaign.” The goal is to stop the spread of the disease, explained Roeland Monasch, from UNICEF, one of the partners in the campaign.

It was also involved in a previous shutdown last September when people were also told to stay at home and volunteers moved around raising awareness....

Monasch said ...“It is now a secondary level of denial, in beginning there was denial Ebola existed, now it is like, ‘Ebola is not around anymore.' So it is a different type of denial, but has the same implications, because we can not relax ,we need to be alert, and that is why were going out there to have that engagement with communities,” he warned.

Zero Ebola Campaign volunteers, including Mary Kargbo (center), talk to residents in Freetown, Sierra Leone, March 27, 2015. ( Nina Devries/VOA)

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http://www.voanews.com/content/sierra-leone-three-day-lockdown-comes-to-a-close/2699608.html

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