--- title: Doctors Without Borders: Sierra Leone Ebola Lockdown Won't Stop Virus description: Doctors Without Borders says the countrywide quarantine could actually make things worse canonical: https://time.com/3282886/sierra-leone-ebola-lockdown/ author: Denver Nicks article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-09-06T18:31:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:05:31.560Z article:section: Health og:title: Doctors Without Borders: Sierra Leone Ebola Lockdown Won't Stop Virus og:description: Doctors Without Borders says the countrywide quarantine could actually make things worse og:url: https://time.com/3282886/sierra-leone-ebola-lockdown/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7e09a818425d55c6/6986a2433bc999b9181a5303/454093414.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1498 og:image:height: 843 og:image:alt: Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Doctors Without Borders: Sierra Leone Ebola Lockdown Won't Stop Virus twitter:description: Doctors Without Borders says the countrywide quarantine could actually make things worse twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7e09a818425d55c6/6986a2433bc999b9181a5303/454093414.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Aid Group: Sierra Leone Ebola Lockdown Won’t Halt Virus > Sponsored content. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ## Video: WHO Recommends Using Ebola Survivors' Blood To Treat Others [Watch (HLS stream): WHO Recommends Using Ebola Survivors' Blood To Treat Others](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Agiluzh8.m3u8) (1:26)  _Published 2014-09-06. The World Health Organization has approved blood transfusions from Ebola survivors as a possible treatment for the disease. Sierra Leone, meanwhile, is preparing to impose a countrywide curfew to prevent Ebola transmission._  by [Denver Nicks](https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Sep 6, 2014 6:31 PM UTC  Ebola volunteers in Kptema graveyard in Kenema, Sierra Leone, on Aug. 24, 2014 Ebola volunteers in Kptema graveyard in Kenema, Sierra Leone, on Aug. 24, 2014 Mohammed Elshamy—Anadolu Agency/Getty Images  by [Denver Nicks](https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Sep 6, 2014 6:31 PM UTC Doctors Without Borders said Saturday that Sierra Leone’s [proposed](http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/06/us-health-ebola-idUSKBN0H10ID20140906) countrywide three-day “lockdown” will not help stop the spread of Ebola and could actually make things worse as more cases are driven underground. Sierra Leone’s government intends to impose a three-day curfew across the country beginning on Sept. 19\. During the lockdown, citizens will be prohibited from traveling outside the immediate vicinity of their homes. The hope is to help stop the spread of infection and give health workers time to locate infected people, Reuters reports. But Doctors Without Borders (also called Médecins Sans Frontières) says the move won’t help combat what’s become the worst ever Ebola outbreak, and may in fact be detrimental to combating the virus. “It has been our experience that lockdowns and quarantines do not help control Ebola as they end up driving people underground and jeopardizing the trust between people and health providers,” the group said. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), West Africa’s recent Ebola outbreak has taken more than 2,100 lives since it started in Guinea in March. In the six months of its rapid spread, the disease has also taken a foothold in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Senegal. The WHO forecasts up to 20,000 cases of the deadly virus before its spread can be stopped. \[[_Reuters_](http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/06/us-health-ebola-idUSKBN0H10ID20140906)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3282886/sierra-leone-ebola-lockdown/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3282886/sierra-leone-ebola-lockdown/"},"headline":"Aid Group: Sierra Leone Ebola Lockdown Won’t Halt Virus","datePublished":"2014-09-06T18:31:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:05:31.560Z","description":"Doctors Without Borders says the countrywide quarantine could actually make things worse","url":"https://time.com/3282886/sierra-leone-ebola-lockdown/","keywords":["Infectious Disease","Sierra Leone","doctors without borders","ebola","Liberia"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7e09a818425d55c6/6986a2433bc999b9181a5303/454093414.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Denver Nicks","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7e09a818425d55c6/6986a2433bc999b9181a5303/454093414.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone","caption":"Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone","creditText":"Mohammed Elshamy—Anadolu Agency/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/infectious-disease/","name":"Infectious Disease"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3282886/sierra-leone-ebola-lockdown/","name":"Aid Group: Sierra Leone Ebola Lockdown Won’t Halt Virus"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"WHO Recommends Using Ebola Survivors' Blood To Treat Others","description":"The World Health Organization has approved blood transfusions from Ebola survivors as a possible treatment for the disease. 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