Sierra Leone to impose 4-day, countrywide anti-Ebola "lockdown"

Sierra Leone will impose a four-day, countrywide "lockdown" starting Sept. 18, an escalation of efforts to halt the spread of Ebola across the West African nation, a senior official in the president's office said on Friday.

Citizens will not be allowed to leave their homes between Sept. 18-21 in a bid to prevent the disease from spreading further and allow health workers to identify cases in the early stages of the illness, said Ibrahim Ben Kargbo, a residential advisor on the country's Ebola task force. "The aggressive approach is necessary to deal with the spread of Ebola once and for all," he told Reuters.

As of Friday, Sierra Leone has recorded 491 of the total of 2,097 deaths blamed on Ebola in West Africa since March, UN figures showed. 

(Reporting by Umaru Fofana, writing by David Lewis, editing by G Crosse)