Sierra Leone endures 3‑day lockdown to curb Ebola outbreak

Sier­ra Leone recent­ly emerged from a three-day, nation­wide lock­down that last­ed from Sept. 19–21, a mea­sure that the coun­try deemed a suc­cess. The lock­down arose out of the coun­try’s des­per­ate hopes to muf­fle the spread of the Ebo­la virus, which has wreaked hav­oc on West Africa in recent months.

The lock­down allowed health offi­cials to inves­ti­gate 75 per­cent of the around 1.5 mil­lion homes they were inter­est­ed in, which result­ed in hun­dreds of new­ly dis­cov­ered cases.

The news was­n’t all good, how­ev­er. Health offi­cials also dis­cov­ered over 250 unburied corpses along with the pre­vi­ous­ly undi­ag­nosed cas­es, and there were com­plaints of food short­ages dur­ing the lockdown.

Ernest Bai Koro­ma, the coun­try’s pres­i­dent, said three Ebo­la “hotspots” – the Port Loko, Bom­bali and Moy­am­ba dis­tricts – will be quar­an­tined. The areas are home to a com­bined 1.5 mil­lion people.

A nation of over 6 mil­lion, Sier­ra Leone has just 136 doc­tors, 1,017 nurs­es and mid­wives and 114 phar­ma­cists.

Empty streets are seen during a three-day lockdown to prevent the spread on the Ebola virus, in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2014. While deemed a success, the lockdown led to complaints and frustration over food shortages, according to Fox News. (AP Photo/ Michael Duff)
Emp­ty streets are seen dur­ing a three-day lock­down to pre­vent the spread on the Ebo­la virus, in Free­town, Sier­ra Leone, Sun­day, Sept. 21, 2014. While deemed a suc­cess, the lock­down led to com­plaints and frus­tra­tion over food short­ages, accord­ing to Fox News. (AP Photo/ Michael Duff) 
Empty streets are seen during a three-day lockdown to prevent the spread on the Ebola virus, in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2014. The Associated Press reported Thursday that the country extended travel restrictions to three "hotspots" where Ebola has hit the hardest, quarantining around 1.5 million people. (AP Photo/ Michael Duff)
Emp­ty streets are seen dur­ing a three-day lock­down to pre­vent the spread on the Ebo­la virus, in Free­town, Sier­ra Leone, Sun­day, Sept. 21, 2014. The Asso­ci­at­ed Press report­ed Thurs­day that the coun­try extend­ed trav­el restric­tions to three “hotspots” where Ebo­la has hit the hard­est, quar­an­ti­ning around 1.5 mil­lion peo­ple. (AP Photo/ Michael Duff) 
A few people are seen during a three-day lockdown to prevent the spread of the Ebola virus, in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2014. Volunteers going door to door during a three-day lockdown intended to combat Ebola in Sierra Leone say some residents are growing increasingly frustrated and complaining about food shortages. (AP Photo/Michael Duff)
A few peo­ple are seen dur­ing a three-day lock­down to pre­vent the spread of the Ebo­la virus, in Free­town, Sier­ra Leone, Sun­day, Sept. 21, 2014. Vol­un­teers going door to door dur­ing a three-day lock­down intend­ed to com­bat Ebo­la in Sier­ra Leone say some res­i­dents are grow­ing increas­ing­ly frus­trat­ed and com­plain­ing about food short­ages. (AP Photo/Michael Duff) 
A health worker volunteer marks a home with chalk to identify that it has been visited, as they distribute bars of soap and information about Ebola in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Saturday, Sept. 20, 2014. House-to-house searches during the lockdown uncovered over 350 new cases, according to The Guardian. (AP Photo/Michael Duff)
A health work­er vol­un­teer marks a home with chalk to iden­ti­fy that it has been vis­it­ed, as they dis­trib­ute bars of soap and infor­ma­tion about Ebo­la in Free­town, Sier­ra Leone, Sat­ur­day, Sept. 20, 2014. House-to-house search­es dur­ing the lock­down uncov­ered over 350 new cas­es, accord­ing to The Guardian. (AP Photo/Michael Duff) 
Healthcare workers, rear, clean Ebola virus prevention gear at the Hastings Police training school, used as a Ebola virus treatment center with over a hundred beds in the village of Hastings, Sierra Leone, Saturday, Sept. 20, 2014. (AP Photo/Michael Duff)
Health­care work­ers, rear, clean Ebo­la virus pre­ven­tion gear at the Hast­ings Police train­ing school, used as a Ebo­la virus treat­ment cen­ter with over a hun­dred beds in the vil­lage of Hast­ings, Sier­ra Leone, Sat­ur­day, Sept. 20, 2014. (AP Photo/Michael Duff) 
An ambulance drops people suspected of having been infected by the Ebola virus inside the Connaught Hospital, during a three-day lockdown to prevent the spread of the virus in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2014. The World Health Organization said West African countries like Sierra Leone have only about 20 percent of the beds they need to effectively combat the virus, according to the Associated Press. (AP Photo/ Michael Duff)
An ambu­lance drops peo­ple sus­pect­ed of hav­ing been infect­ed by the Ebo­la virus inside the Con­naught Hos­pi­tal, dur­ing a three-day lock­down to pre­vent the spread of the virus in Free­town, Sier­ra Leone, Sun­day, Sept. 21, 2014. The World Health Orga­ni­za­tion said West African coun­tries like Sier­ra Leone have only about 20 per­cent of the beds they need to effec­tive­ly com­bat the virus, accord­ing to the Asso­ci­at­ed Press. (AP Photo/ Michael Duff) 

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