Ebola: 100 Bodies, 200 Patients Found After 3 days Lock Down in Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone said on Wednesday that around 100 bodies and 200 patients had been collected from homes during its three-day lockdown to stem the deadly Ebola epidemic raging in west Africa.

Almost six million people across the country were confined indoors for 72 hours from Friday while 28,000 volunteers went door-to-door, giving out advice and identifying new suspected cases and deaths that had been kept from the authorities.

“Over 92 bodies were discovered nationwide during the three-day lockdown of the country,” Karamoh Kabbah, the deputy minister for political affairs, told a news conference in the capital Freetown.

He said 77 of the bodies had been collected in the Western Area, a division including the city of 1.2 million and its immediate surroundings.

“Over 200 suspected cases were identified... of which, so far, 130 have been confirmed positive,” he added.

The deadliest Ebola epidemic on record has infected almost 6,000 people in west Africa and killed nearly half of them, according to the World Health Organization's latest figures.

In Sierra Leone, Ebola has infected 1,813 people, killing 593.