(CNN) -- Sierra Leone starts a three-day nationwide lockdown Friday in an effort to halt an Ebola outbreak that has left thousands dead in the region.

Under the plan, no one will be allowed to leave their homes for three days, allowing volunteers to go door-to-door educating people on the deadly virus.

Muslims should pray at home Friday while Christians do the same on Sunday, the nation's officials said.

"We believe this is the best way for now to identify those who are sick and remove them from those who are well," said Alhaji Alpha Kanu, the nation's minister of information.

But aid agency Médecins Sans Frontières, also known as Doctors Without Borders, said the lockdown is unlikely to stop the spread of the disease.

 

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"Forced quarantines and lockdowns are driving people underground and jeopardizing the trust between people and health providers," the charity group said in a statement this month. "This is leading to the concealment of cases and is pushing the sick away from health systems."

It's not the first time a quarantine or lockdown has been enforced. In August, Liberia locked down one of the poorest neighborhoods in the capital of Monrovia in an attempt to stop the spread of the virus. Riots ensued.

The deadliest Ebola outbreak in history has killed at least 2,400 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone -- the countries most affected by the virus -- since the first case was documented in December.

Training volunteers

Sierra Leone set the dates for the lockdown earlier this month to give officials time to train volunteers and get needed equipment.

During the lockdown, about 7,000 volunteers will talk to people across the nation about how to protect themselves and identify Ebola cases,officials said.

The information minister described the volunteers as young people who are trained health workers, medical students and nurses.

"Resistance will be less. They will be talking to people they know," he said.

He did not say what punishment, if any, people would face if they violate the lockdown.

But MSF, which is working with patients in the nation, said this will not be an easy task.

"It will be extremely difficult for health workers to accurately identify cases through door-to-door screenings as this requires a certain level of expertise," the group said. "And when cases are identified, there will not be enough Ebola management centers to care for them."

Number of cases on the rise

As the number of new cases escalates, there's a question of what a lockdown will do to slow the spread of the virus, given that the Ebola incubation period can range between two and 21 days.

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 outbreak has been centered in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, with a handful of cases in Nigeria. The overall fatality rate is 50%, WHO said.

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.

塞拉利昂全國開始鎖定以阻止埃博拉病毒的蔓延
由信仰卡里米和切爾西J·卡特，美國有線電視新聞網
2014年9月19日 - 更新1301 GMT（2101 HKT）

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新聞提要
沒有人會被允許離開自己的家園了三天
志願者將前往送貨上門育人對病毒的危險
援助組織警告說，鎖定將推動人們“地下”
（CNN） -塞拉利昂開始了為期三天的全國鎖定週五 在努力阻止埃博拉疫情已導致成千上萬死在該地區。
根據該計劃，任何人不得擅自離開自己的家園了三天，讓志願者去門對門的致命病毒育人。
穆斯林應該在家裡星期五祈禱，而基督徒做同樣的週日，國家的官員說。
“我們相信這是我們確定誰生病了，並從那些誰是很好地去除他們的最好方式，”哈吉阿爾法·卡努，信息的國家的部長說。
但救援機構無國界醫生組織，也被​​稱為無國界醫生表示，鎖定不太可能阻止疾病的蔓延。
剛果民主共和國跟踪的風險埃博拉患者 新的埃博拉病毒疫苗進行測試 醫生：埃博拉患者病情穩定
組圖：埃博拉疫情在西非 組圖：埃博拉疫情在西非
“強制隔離和lockdowns駕駛人地下，危害人民健康服務提供者之間的信任，”慈善團體在一份聲明本月初說。“這是導致案件的隱蔽性，並從衛生系統推生病了。”
這不是第一次檢疫或鎖定已執行。今年八月，利比里亞鎖定最貧窮的街區在蒙羅維亞的首都之一，企圖阻止病毒的傳播。暴動接踵而至。
在致命的埃博拉疫情在歷史上已造成至少2400人在幾內亞，利比里亞和塞拉利昂-國家受影響最嚴重的病毒-因為第一種情況是記錄在12月。
培訓志願者
塞拉利昂設定日期的鎖定本月初給官員的時間來培訓義工，並得到所需要的設備。
在鎖定，約7000名志願者將與有關各地如何保護自己，並確定埃博拉病毒病例的國家的人，官員說。
信息部長所描述的志願者為青少年誰是訓練有素的衛生工作者，醫學生和護士。
“阻力會少一些。他們將談論他們認識的人，”他說。
他沒有說如果有的話，人們會面臨什麼樣的處罰，如果他們違反了鎖定。
不過，無國界醫生，這正與病人在全國前列，表示這將不會是一件容易的事。
“這將是非常困難的衛生工作者通過門對門放映找准案件，因為這需要專業知識的一定水平，”該集團表示。“而當案件被識別，就不會有足夠的埃博拉病毒管理中心，照顧他們。”
在上升的案件數量
由於新發病例數升級，有一個什麼樣的鎖定會做，以減緩病毒的傳播，因為埃博拉潛伏期2至21天之間的範圍的問題。
該病毒通過體液接觸傳播，而且早期症狀包括突然發燒，無力，肌肉疼痛，頭痛和喉嚨痛。
爆發已經集中在幾內亞，塞拉利昂和利比里亞，與少數病例在尼日利亞。總的病死率為50％，他說。
埃博拉河在剛果民主共和國（前扎伊爾），其中第一個爆發的一次發生在1976年之後，該病毒被命名。