FREETOWN: Millions of Sierra Leoneans were set to emerge from their homes on Monday after a three-day nationwide lockdown during which scores of dead bodies and new cases of Ebola infections were uncovered.
The west African country had imposed the extreme measure confining its six million people to their homes for 72 hours in a bid to stem a deadly Ebola outbreak which has claimed more than 2,600 lives there and in neighbouring Liberia and Guinea this year.
Only essential workers such as health professionals were exempt, as were some 30,000 volunteers who went door-to-door to hand out soap and give advice on halting the contagion.
Liberia also ramped up the battle against the epidemic, announcing Sunday a four-fold increase in hospital beds to 1,000 for Ebola patients in the capital Monrovia, as more US troops arrived to shore up overwhelmed local officials in the fight.
Ebola fever can fell its victims within days, causing severe muscle pain, vomiting, diarrhoea and -- in many cases -- unstoppable internal and external bleeding.
Fears of contagion have crippled the economies of affected nations, as wary workers stay home and cross border trade is disrupted by airlines cutting links.
Sierra Leone's deputy chief medical officer Sarian Kamara said that through the lockdown, "we were... able to confirm new cases which, had they not been discovered, would have greatly increased transmission."
"Up to this morning, we had 22 new cases. The response from the medical (teams) has improved and the burial teams were able to bury between 60 to 70 corpses over the past two days."
But the shutdown had also drawn criticism with some calling it a mere publicity stunt and others complaining about the poor quality of advice given by volunteers on stemming the disease.
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