Sierra Leone announces three-day public lockdown to combat Ebola outbreak

Sierra Leone officials said they will "deal with Ebola once and for all" by instituting a three-day lockdown on all citizens later this month.

The plan may not actually work, though. Sierra Leone does not have the military forces to ensure all of its 6 million citizens actually remain in their homes between September 19-21. And, similar quarantine objectives in other West African countries battling the outbreak have led to food hoarding, price gouging, and even rioting.

If the lockdown goes according to plan, though, authorities will use the time to identify new Ebola cases and isolate the patients, so as to stop the outbreak from spreading further. Ebola has killed more than 2,000 people across five West African nations so far, and the World Health Organization says there could be another 20,000 cases before the outbreak is contained.

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Sierra Leone's health and sanitation ministry had recorded 404 deaths through Thursday; a government official described the lockdown as an "aggressive approach (that) is necessary."