--- title: Ebola Returns to Sierra Leone After Three Weeks Free description: Sierra Leone has two new cases of Ebola in its capital city Freetown, despite several weeks of no cases. canonical: https://time.com/3930937/ebola-returns-sierra-leone/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-22T20:54:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:58:49.455Z article:section: Health og:title: Ebola Returns to Sierra Leone Capital After Weeks of No New Cases og:description: Underscoring the difficulty of ridding the region of the deadly virus og:url: https://time.com/3930937/ebola-returns-sierra-leone/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb30dbb4e77c0706e/698855abf887dc7659e9109c/ebola-virus.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: ebola og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ebola Returns to Sierra Leone Capital After Weeks of No New Cases twitter:description: Underscoring the difficulty of ridding the region of the deadly virus twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb30dbb4e77c0706e/698855abf887dc7659e9109c/ebola-virus.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ebola Returns to Sierra Leone Capital After Weeks of No New Cases ## Video: Ebola Fighters in West Africa - TIME's Person of the Year 2014 [Watch (HLS stream): Ebola Fighters in West Africa - TIME's Person of the Year 2014](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/laroqNbt.m3u8) (10:47)  _Published 2014-12-10. Hundreds of doctors, nurses and health workers work every day to treat and contain the outbreak in the hot zone_ by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Jun 22, 2015 8:54 PM UTC  Color enhanced electron micrograph of Ebola Zaire virus. This is the first photo ever taken of the virus, on 10/13/1976 by Dr. F.A. Murphy, then at CDC. Diagnostic specimen in cell culture at 160,000 x magnification. Color enhanced electron micrograph of Ebola Zaire virus. This is the first photo ever taken of the virus, on 10/13/1976 by Dr. F.A. Murphy, then at CDC. Diagnostic specimen in cell culture at 160,000 x magnification.Getty Images by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Jun 22, 2015 8:54 PM UTC Two new cases of the deadly Ebola virus have been [recorded](http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/22/us-health-ebola-leone-idUSKBN0P224Z20150622?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm%5Fsource=twitter) in Sierra Leone’s capital city of Freetown, about three weeks after the most recent new cases were found, underscoring the difficulty of ridding the region of the disease. “This is worrisome because we had already closed all Ebola quarantine structures in Freetown since we had gone for weeks without a case,” Sidi Yahya Tunis, a spokesman for the National Ebola Response Centre (NERC) [told Reuters](http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/22/us-health-ebola-leone-idUSKBN0P224Z20150622?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm%5Fsource=twitter). The cases were found in a densely populated slum called Magazine. Sierra Leone, one of the three West African nations hit hardest during the outbreak, has so far experienced more than 13,000 cases and more than 3,900 deaths. Guinea is still struggling to hit zero cases; Liberia, which at one point last year led all three in the highest number of cases, was declared Ebola-free in May. Altogether, the three countries have reported more 27,350 cases and more than 11,170 deaths. Overall infections are on the decline, [with fewer than 25 cases in Ebola treatment units last week](http://time.com/3928454/ebola-how-many-cases/). \[[_Reuters_](http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/22/us-health-ebola-leone-idUSKBN0P224Z20150622?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm%5Fsource=twitter)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3930937/ebola-returns-sierra-leone/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3930937/ebola-returns-sierra-leone/"},"headline":"Ebola Returns to Sierra Leone Capital After Weeks of No New Cases","datePublished":"2015-06-22T20:54:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:58:49.455Z","description":"Cases found in a densely populated slum","url":"https://time.com/3930937/ebola-returns-sierra-leone/","keywords":["ebola","Sierra Leone","Guinea","Liberia","Ebola outbreak"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb30dbb4e77c0706e/698855abf887dc7659e9109c/ebola-virus.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb30dbb4e77c0706e/698855abf887dc7659e9109c/ebola-virus.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"ebola","caption":"ebola","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/ebola/","name":"ebola"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3930937/ebola-returns-sierra-leone/","name":"Ebola Returns to Sierra Leone Capital After Weeks of No New Cases"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Ebola Fighters in West Africa - TIME's Person of the Year 2014","description":"Hundreds of doctors, nurses and health workers work every day to treat and contain the outbreak in the hot zone","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/laroqNbt/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-12-10T11:46:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/laroqNbt.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3930937/ebola-returns-sierra-leone/","duration":"PT10M47S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3930937/ebola-returns-sierra-leone/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```