A three-day lockdown in Sierra Leone aimed at stemming the worst Ebola epidemic on record has identified dozens of new infections, but has not reached everyone in the country and is likely to be extended, a senior official said on Sunday.
In one of the most extreme strategies employed since the epidemic began, Sierra Leone ordered its 6 million residents to stay indoors as volunteers circulated to educate households as well as isolate the sick and remove the dead.
“There is a very strong possibility it will be extended,” Stephen Gaojia, head of the Emergency Operations Centre that leads the national Ebola response, told Reuters after meeting with President Ernest Bai Koroma.
“Even though the exercise has been a huge success so far, it has not been concluded in some metropolitan cities like Freetown and Kenema.”
Gaojia said 92 bodies had been recovered across the country by the end of Saturday, the second day of the lockdown.
