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Ebola-hit Sierra Leone has quarantined hundreds of thousands more citizens, it said Tuesday, sealing off a sixth district, with more than half of the country's population already under lockdown.
Tonkolili, in the centre, was added to the growing list of districts which no one is allowed to leave or enter without special dispensation, in an effort to combat an outbreak which is spiralling out of control, with 1,400 deaths so far.
"The two-week lockdown was agreed in a key stakeholders meeting of cabinet ministers, parliamentarians and paramount chiefs of the district as part of efforts to stem the spread of the disease," a health ministry spokesman said.
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Tonkolili, one of the most economically productive parts of Sierra Leone, has seen a relatively small proportion of the country's Ebola infections but is experiencing a continued spread which threatens its farming and mining industries.
The district sits atop the largest iron ore deposit in Africa and hosts the continent's biggest bio energy company, Addax Petroleum, while sugar and rubber production are also major contributors to the country's economy.
The quarantine echoes a nationwide three-day shutdown in September, called in a bid to find unreported cases.
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