By Cinnatus Dumbuya
FREETOWN
Sierra Leone is planning a three-day lockdown of some regions later this month to scale up the fight against the deadly Ebola virus, a medical official said Thursday.
"The lockdown will be implemented from March 27 to March 29 and it will be like the one implemented in September of 2014," spokesman for the National Ebola Response Centre Sidi Yahya Tunis told The Anadolu Agency.
But unlike the previous lockdown, the new one will only target the western and northern parts of Sierra Leone, which includes the capital Freetown.
The measure, Tunis said, aims to raise awareness about the Ebola menace amid a spike of cases in the western and northern regions.
"We plan a national campaign at the end of the month to get to zero cases," Tunis said. "We hope this lockdown will give a final push to Ebola," he added.
The official noted that health workers and social mobilisers would visit houses in affected areas to remind residents of the importance of adhering to official health and safety measures.
According to the National Ebola Response Centre, 3,346 have died of Ebola out of a total of 8,508 people confirmed to have contracted the disease in the country.
The previous lockdown in September of 2014 was highly praised as successful by the authorities.
