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Freetown. – Millions of Sierra Leoneans emerged from their homes yesterday after a controversial nationwide lockdown during which scores of dead bodies and around 150 new cases of Ebola infections were uncovered.The West African country had confined its six million people to their homes for 72 hours in a bid to stem a deadly outbreak that has claimed nearly 2 800 lives there and in neighbouring Liberia and Guinea this year.

“We have an overflow of bodies which we still need to bury but this has been an everyday occurrence since the Ebola outbreak . . . Now at least we have about 150 new cases,” Steven Gaojia, head of the country’s emergency operation centre, said late Sunday.

The country’s chief medical officer earlier said up to 70 bodies had been uncovered, but these were in and around the capital, and results for the whole country are likely to push up the figures significantly.

Only essential workers such as health professionals were exempt from the shutdown, and some 30 000 volunteers who went door-to-door to hand out soap and give advice on halting the contagion.

Independent observers have voiced concerns over the quality of advice being given out, deeming the shutdown a “mixed success” and complaining about the poor training of the door-to-door education teams.

Meanwhile, aid organisations and medical experts questioned the feasibility of reaching 1,5 million households in three days and argued that confining people to their homes could erode trust between the government and the people.

But Health Minister Abubakarr Fofanah told AFP that volunteers had managed to reach around 80 percent of homes, deeming the action a success.

“We have learnt a lot from the campaign. Although this campaign has ended, there is a possibility we would have a similar one some other time,” he said.

“I cannot as of now give you statistics about the total corpses collected during the three-day period as we are now awaiting returns from other parts of the country and this will be made known as soon as the full report is compiled.”

The World Health Organisation (WHO) warned two weeks ago that Liberia, worst-hit in the outbreak, was about to see a huge spike in infections, with thousands of new cases imminent.

The UN agency, issuing its latest figures yesterday, said Liberia had recorded 3,022 cases with 1,578 deaths.

Meanwhile, the Zimbabwean student who was being monitored for suspected Ebola infection in Malaysia was last Wednesday confirmed to be free from the virus.

The student, aged 24, is still being treated at Sarawak General Hospital in Kuching.

According to media reports, Malaysia health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the finding was made after laboratory tests were done on clinical samples taken from the student last week and found to be negative for Ebola virus.

“At present, he is getting better and responding well to treatment,” Dr Noor Hisham said.

He said his country would continue to bolster its preparedness to face any possibility of the spread of Ebola virus.

The male student from a private university campus had developed a cough, severe body ache and high fever, among the early symptoms related to Ebola, after being in contact with a group of Nigerian students who had just returned to Sarawak from their home country.

The Nigerian students had been found to be in good health but the state health authority was keeping them in isolation at the campus pending further medical checks on them.- AFP-Herald Reporter.