Ebola: Sierra Leone Countrywide Quarantine Passes Off Peacefully

Health workers trying to bury the bodies of five Ebola victims in Sierra Leone had to abandon them and flee when they were attacked by a group of youths.

An official said the burial was successfully completed after police reinforcements arrived, reports AP.

Barring the incident, residents were largely compliant with prohibitive orders across the country, according to a coordinator of an emergency operations centre in the capital.

Sierra Leone is on its last day of a countrywide quarantine which saw thousands of volunteers go door to door educating the six million population on how to identify, prevent and protect against the deadly virus.

"We're doing contact tracing and we have teams of volunteers. When someone is suspected of having Ebola, these teams will follow up with people who may have come in contact with this person and monitor them for 21 days," Red Cross worker Katherine Mueller told CBC News.

The World Health Organization has said the deadly virus has killed more than 560 people in Sierra Leone and over 2,600 across West Africa. The cases are almost doubling every two weeks in Liberia.

The WHO now estimates that over $1bn is needed to control the outbreak, a figure that was just $490m in August. More equipment like hazard suits, gloves and disinfectants are needed as also personnel.