(CNN) -- Sierra Leone lifted Sunday a nationwide lockdown, which had been put in place to help stop the spread of Ebola.
Under the plan, no one
was allowed to leave their homes for three days, allowing volunteers to
go door-to-door educating people on the deadly virus.
More than 75% of the targeted 1.5 million households were contacted, according to the Health Ministry.
"The EOC (Emergency
Operations Center) has officially ended the three day stay at home, but
the Social Mobilization exercise will continue in those communities that
have been identified as hot spots across the country," it said in a
statement.
The deadliest Ebola
outbreak in history has killed at least 2,600 people in Guinea, Liberia
and Sierra Leone -- the countries most affected by the virus -- since
the first case was documented in December.
The virus is spread
through contact with bodily fluids, and early symptoms include sudden
onset of fever, weakness, muscle pain, headaches and a sore throat.
The virus is named after
the Ebola River in the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire),
where one of the first outbreaks occurred in 1976.
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