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Ebola crisis: Sierra Leone bans Christmas celebrations | Ebola crisis: Sierra Leone bans Christmas celebrations |
(about 1 hour later) | |
Sierra Leone has banned public celebrations over Christmas and the New Year, because of the Ebola crisis. | |
Soldiers are to be deployed on the streets throughout the festive period to keep people indoors, officials say. | |
Christmas is widely celebrated in Sierra Leone, even though Islam is the largest religion. | Christmas is widely celebrated in Sierra Leone, even though Islam is the largest religion. |
Sierra Leone has the most cases of Ebola in the current outbreak. Some 6,580 have died, mostly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. | |
President Ernest Bai Koroma told traditional leaders to stop traditional practices as part of efforts to end Ebola in the country, Awoko newspaper reports. | |
The president added that despite international aid, it seemed "as if the cases are increasing", especially in north-western areas such as Port Loko and the Bombali region. | |
Overtaking Liberia | |
Sierra Leone has the highest number of Ebola cases in West Africa, with more than 8,000 cases and some 1,900 deaths since the start of the outbreak. | |
It overtook Liberia as the country with the most cases earlier in December, according to World Health Organization (WHO) figures. | |
The West African outbreak of Ebola is the deadliest ever. | |
The virus, which was first identified in 1976, causes vomiting, diarrhoea and bleeding. | |
People are infected through direct contact with the bodily fluids of a person who has the virus or has died from Ebola. |