The Sierra Leone government is now desperate to slow down the rapid spread of the Ebola epidemic and has imposed a three-day lockdown, ordering people to just stay inside their homes.

The lockdown will start on Thursday midnight and will end on Sunday. Health volunteers are aiming to search house-to-house among the Sierra Leone's approximately six million residents for those infected with the disease but went into hiding.

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Aside from that, the health workers will also be giving away 1.5 million bars of soap and will disseminate information about the Ebola virus.

The lockdown is expected to have hundreds more added to the current cases handled by health workers as they suspect that people did not seek help from hospitals. Others might have visited health centers but were turned away by the workers due to the overwhelming number of cases being treated.

The government of Sierra Leone is said to have prepared more centers to accommodate the expected additional number of cases by Sunday.

Sierra Leone's President Ernest Bai Koroma announced on Thursday that the life of everyone is at stake but they will be getting over the situation if they all do what they are asked.

Concerns have been raised regarding the lockdown. Merchants say that they are worried about how they will feed their families after losing three days of income.

An emergency meeting by the United Nations Security Council has been held beforehand addressing the growing concern. According to them, the outbreak is a threat to the international peace and security urging all countries to offer hospitals, health volunteers and medical supplies just in case.

This is reportedly only the second time the council has addressed a health-related outbreak after the AIDS epidemic.

Meanwhile, other countries have tried to send their health workers to different parts of their country to educate people about the deadly virus. According to reports, in Guinea, seven bodies were found and were later identified as the Guinean health workers who were trying to educate the villagers.

However, reports say that the villagers abducted the workers and they were armed with rocks and knives. Radio journalists were also among the bodies found.

Another group of health workers went to West Africa to conduct awareness campaigns. The health clinics were said to be attacked by panic-stricken villagers.

The Ebola outbreak has also spread like wildfire in Liberia, Nigeria, and Senegal. The World Health Organization released figures saying the outbreak has infected over 5,300 people and the death toll is already at 2,600.

As of now, countries that have offered help include France, Britain and the United States. France promiosed to set up military hospitals in Guinea while Britain will be providing 500 beds for Sierra Leone.

The U.S. is set to deploy 3,000 military personnel to build more treatment centers in Liberia.

TagsSierra Leone, lockdown, three days, Ebola outbreak, slow down, increasing cases