Epidemic ... a health worker from Sierra Leone's Red Cross Society Burial Team 7 carries the corpse of a child in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Picture: AFP Source: AFP

Soldiers are to be deployed throughout the festive period to force people venturing onto the streets back indoors, the government’s Ebola response unit announced on Friday.

Palo Conteh, head of the department, told reporters in the capital Freetown there would be “no Christmas and New Year celebrations this year”.

Suffering ... an Ebola victim lies outside a house in Port Loko Community, situated on the outskirts of Freetown, in Sierra Leone. Picture: AP Source: AP

Conteh said: “We will ensure that everybody remains at home to reflect on Ebola. Military personnel will be on the streets at Christmas and the New Year to stop any street celebrations.”

While Islam is the dominant religion, more than a quarter of the population is Christian and public gatherings and entertainment are common during the festive period.

Residents of Sierra Leone's Turtle Islands, normally a paradise tourist retreat, receive U.N. food handouts to counter Ebola-related food shortages. Mana Rabiee reports.

Conteh did not give the exact dates of the crackdown or specify any exceptions. In past local and nationwide anti-Ebola curfews, people have been allowed out to worship and for “essential business”.

Under current emergency regulations, bars and nightspots have been shut down and public gatherings are outlawed but there is no general ban on wandering outdoors or working.

Sierra Leone, which has overtaken Liberia to report the most cases of the killer virus, has recorded 1319 new infections in the last three weeks.

Caretaker ... WA nurse Anne Carey at a Red Cross hospital on the outskirts of Kenema, Sierra Leone. Picture: Michael Duff Source: Supplied