FREETOWN, Sierra Leone, Sept. 6 (UPI) -- The government of Sierra Leone has instituted a three-day lockdown in an effort to battle the deadly Ebola virus.
A senior government official said Sierra Leoneans are not allowed to leave their homes from Sept. 19 to Sept. 21 in order to halt the spread of the disease.
As of the end of August a confirmed 430 people have died in Sierra Leone of Ebola since the beginning of the outbreak in March. About 1,840 people have died in the three West African countries of Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, where the outbreak is centered, the World Health Organization said.
In order to make sure people stay indoors during the lockdown period, officials said more than 20,000 people would be deployed for security.
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"We don't expect them to refuse. You follow or else you'll be breaking the law. If you disobey then you are disobeying the president," Sidie Yahya Tunis, the health ministry's communications director, told the BBC.
Volunteers will walk door-to-door to talk to people.
"We believe this the best way for now to identify those who are sick and remove them from those who are well," Alhaji Alpha Kanu, Sierra Leone's minister of information and communication, told CNN.
No vaccine or cure currently exists for the flu-like virus, which causes fever with chills, joint pain, muscle pain and chest pain, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control says.
Since it was first discovered in 1976, the disease has infected fewer than 2,000 people, mostly in the tropical regions of Sub-Saharan Africa. It resides in infected pigs, monkeys and fruit bats, and can be transferred to humans.
In some cases there is up to a 90 percent mortality rate. The mortality rate of the current outbreak is a bit more than 50 percent.
