Sierra Leone imposes Ebola-lockdown

Nearly 30,000 healthcare workers set out in Sierra Leone on Friday to assess the extent of the Ebola epidemic. The West African country has been one of the worst hit by the health crisis, with over 550 reported deaths out of roughly 1,600 known cases, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

"These are extraordinary times and extraordinary times require extraordinary measures," Sierra Leone President Ernest Koroma said in a message broadcast on television and radio.

The four teams, made up of roughly 7,000 members each, planned to travel door-to-door to determine the number of people infected by Ebola. They are also tasked with educating local populations about disease prevention and symptoms of the deadly virus.

"The campaign will greatly help to reverse the increasing trend of the disease transmission and become a very big boost to our collective effort to stop the outbreak," Koroma said.

According to the United Nations, at least 5,500 people have been infected across Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea with the hemorrhagic fever. It has estimated that Ebola has claimed at least 2,600 lives.

The epidemic has triggered panic across the hardest-hit nations, where local officials have struggled to contain the virus. Not only have their infrastructures proved insufficient for combating a health emergency, but they have also been unable to convince some communities of the seriousness of Ebola. Distrust of officials and medical workers has led to protests in some cities and even to attacks on healthcare workers.

UN launches healthcare mission

The 72-hour lockdown went into effect despite a call from the UN for West African nations to lift travel restrictions in general.

Other health organizations, such as WHO and Medicins sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), have also urged similar measures, saying that restricting travel is not the most effective measure to contain the virus.

The travels bans have not made as much of an impact on stopping the disease from spreading, but rather have made it more difficult and expensive to fight the epidemic, Manji Cheto, the Vice President of the global advisory firm Teneo Intelligence and an expert on West African political economies, told DW.

Isolated cases of Ebola crossing into Nigeria and Senegal illustrated how officials can contain a "wider outbreak" if informed quickly. By contrast, inhibiting travel "also drives up the cost of dealing with the crisis," Cheto said.

"You need to be able to fly material items into the countries. You need to be able to fly people with expertise, healthcare equipment, medicines and…protective gear," Cheto said. "Travel bans [make it] incredibly difficult."

kms/dr (AP, AFP, dpa)