Fighting Ebola: Sierra Leone Three-day Curfew declared "success"

A three-day curfew aimed at containing the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone has been declared a success by authorities.

The wide-ranging curfew ended at midnight on Sunday (GMT) and will not be extended, authorities said.

Sierra Leone has been one of the countries worst affected by the outbreaks, with more than 550 victims among the 2,600 deaths so far recorded.

Meanwhile, neighbouring Liberia announced a four-fold increase in the number of beds for Ebola patients.

Liberia is the country worst-hit by the epidemic, accounting for more than half the number of total deaths.

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is the worst ever, the World Health Organization (WHO) says. The deadly virus is transmitted through sweat, blood and saliva, and there is no proven cure.

The curfew in Sierra Leone came into force on Friday morning, with most of the country's six million inhabitants confined to their homes.

Around 30,000 medical volunteers travelled to affected neighbourhoods to find and treat patients and distribute soap.

Deputy Chief Medical Officer Sarian Kamara said authorities had managed to discover 22 new cases of the virus during the curfew.

"Had they not been discovered, they would have greatly increased transmission," he said.

He also said between 60 and 70 Ebola victims had been buried in the past two days. Bodies of Ebola victims are highly contagious and their swift burial is considered key to containing the disease.

Earlier on Sunday, the head of the country's Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) Stephen Gaojia said there was a "very strong possibility" that the curfew would be extended.

"Even though the exercise has been a huge success so far, it has not been concluded in some metropolitan cities like Freetown and Kenema," he said.

The three-day curfew is the most aggressive measure taken against the virus yet by a West African country.