Ebola: Roadblocks To Stop Health Workers

Roadblocks have reportedly been set up by residents in ebola-hit Guinea in a bid to stop health teams entering the area.

The number of people to die from deadly virus in West Africa has risen to nearly 3,000 - almost half of those so far infected - and further 'hotspots' were put under quarantine in an attempt to halt its spread.

But in some areas of Guinea, where an ebola team was killed last week, there was still resistance to such efforts, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said.

There are reports from the Fassankoni area that locals were setting up barricades to intercept ebola response teams trying to enter the region, WHO said.

In Sierra Leone, authorities have isolated three more districts - restricting the movement of 1.2 million people - in the largest lockdown seen since the start of the outbreak.

With the eastern districts of Kenema and Kailahun already under quarantine, more than a third of the population of six million, in five of the nation's 14 districts, now finds itself unable to move freely.

The government warned unless action was taken "the situation will rapidly deteriorate".

It means only people delivering essential services can enter and move within these areas.

In other parts of the country, including the capital, homes will be put under quarantine when cases are identified.

President Ernest Bai Koroma said in a statement: "The isolation of districts and chiefdoms will definitely pose great difficulties for our people in those districts.

"But the life of everyone and the survival of our country take precedence over these difficulties."

At least 2,917 people have died of ebola out of 6,263 cases in the five West African countries blighted by the disease, according to WHO.

WHO, the UN health agency, is predicting as many as 21,000 cases of ebola by November if the outbreak response remains as it is.