News: Ebola: A third of Sierra Leone in quarantine as global death toll reaches 3,000

Around 1.5 million people living in Ebola-ravaged Sierra Leone are today in lockdown as experts reveal the official death toll has reached almost 3,000.

Six months into the most deadly outbreak in history, the latest figures indicate the disease may be slowing pace in Guinea - the site of the original outbreak in February.

But experts have warned a dire lack of beds and community resistance in some areas are helping the virus spread.

Meanwhile efforts to straighten out muddled data are gradually revealing an epidemic even more deadly than first thought.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said of the 6,263 cases of Ebola recorded in five West African countries, 2,917 people had died as of September 21. 

Compared to the agency's previous update, the latest data shows 99 more deaths in Liberia since September 17.

However there have but only four new cases in Sierra Leone since September 19 and three in Guinea since September 20.

The proportion of cases in the last 21 days - the incubation period of the virus - has also fallen in the three nations, suggesting the spread of the disease may be slowing. 

The WHO said: 'The upward epidemic trend continues in Sierra Leone and most probably also in Liberia.

'However, the situation in Guinea, although still of grave concern, appears to have stabilised.

'Between 75 and 100 new confirmed cases have been reported in each of the past five weeks.'  

The WHO said Liberia had 315 bed spaces for Ebola patients and aid agencies had promised to set up 440 more, but the country needed a further 1,550 beds that nobody had yet offered to provide. 

In Sierra Leone, 297 planned new beds would almost double existing capacity, but a further 532 were needed.

With too few beds and a huge shortage of expertise, the effort to tackle Ebola has switched to setting up care centres in communities and training locals, including 11,000 teachers in Liberia, to educate people about how to combat the disease.

In Sierra Leone travel has been restricted into and within three more 'hotspots' in the West African nation, where 1.5 million people live.