A two-week house to house search began Wednesday in the Port Loki District of Sierra Leone, some 100 kilometers from the capital Freetown, a local journalist said.
Most of the confirmed cases are reported in the Lokomasama chiefdom in the district, Xinhua reported.
The journalist said that the spike in the cases prompted the district Ebola response team, the British contingent in the area and other stakeholders including local authorities to discuss the social mobilisation strategy to contain the spread of the virus.
Over 30 Ebola related deaths are reported in the area in a week. The increase has been attributed to secret burials and the hiding of the sick.
It is further reported that the disease is said to have transmitted by a traditional healer who treated a patient from Freetown, the capital. The healer is said to have died later.