That was the announcement from the head of the government’s Ebola response unit. There will be “no Christmas and New Year celebrations this year,” Palo Conteh said in the capital of Freetown, according to AFP.
“We will ensure that everybody remains at home to reflect on Ebola,” he said. “Military personnel will be on the streets at Christmas and the New Year to stop any street celebrations.”
The majority of Sierra Leone’s population is Muslim, but Christians make up 10% of its people, according to the CIA World Factbook.
More than 6,500 have died and another 18,100 have been infected with Ebola in West Africa — mainly in the nations of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea — since the outbreak began nearly a year ago.