The Friday to Sunday national lockdown in Sierra Leone, West Africa, which the government imposed to contain the Ebola outbreak that has severely hit the nation and its neighboring countries, was initially met with criticisms.
Médecins Sans Frontières, the international aids group that is actively involved in combatting the outbreak, said that quarantines and lockdowns may just lead people to conceal cases and negatively affect the trust between health providers and the people.
On Sunday, at the end of the controversial operation, however, authorities said that the lockdown was a success as it has led to the identification of new Ebola cases and the discovery of bodies, which could have caused more infections.
During the three-day lockdown, which started on Friday morning and ended at midnight on Sunday, Sierra Leone's 6 million inhabitants were ordered to stay locked in their homes as about 30,000 health service providers and volunteers went door-to-door to look for and treat Ebola patients, as well as separate them from uninfected individuals.
Government officials have acknowledged that the operation is an aggressive measure but said it was necessary to contain the spread of the Ebola, which has already killed over 500 people in the country, as well as infected and killed thousands of others in West Africa.
Stephen Gaojia, from the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) which leads the nation's Ebola response, said that 92 bodies were found across the country during the three-day curfew. Of the 123 people who were tested for Ebola during the exercise, 56 were found positive while 36 were still waiting for the results of their test.
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Sarian Kamara said that in the past two days between 60 and 70 bodies of Ebola victims had already been buried. He said that these bodies are highly infectious and that their immediate burial is crucial to containing the disease.
"Had they not been discovered, they would have greatly increased transmission," Kamara said.
Despite hailing the lockdown a success, authorities said that there are areas that have not been reached by the volunteers. Nonetheless, Gaojia said that the campaign will no longer be extended to reach some of the remaining households because its objectives have already been attained.
"Even though the exercise has been a huge success so far, it has not been concluded in some metropolitan cities like Freetown and Kenema," Gaojia said. "It cannot be extended because its objectives have largely been met."
