10 Ebola cases found during Sierra Leone's shutdown

Freetown - Sierra Leone says it found 10 new Ebola cases during a three-day countrywide shutdown and an official says the West African nation is now at the "tail end" of the epidemic.

Alfred Palo Conteh, head of the country's Ebola response, said on Wednesday that hundreds of sick people were identified during the door-to-door operation that also aimed to remind people how to prevent Ebola. But only 10 of those people eventually tested positive for Ebola.

That figure indicates that there are not hordes of hidden Ebola cases as some had feared. By contrast, during a shutdown in September, when the epidemic was raging, more than 260 new cases were found.

The current Ebola outbreak has killed around 10 500 people, the vast majority in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.