Sierra Leone has recorded its worst day ever since the Ebola virus stole into the country, with 121 deaths at a go.

So far, the deaths on Saturday will go into the records as one of the single deadliest days, according to government statistsics, released yesterday.

The figures, which covered the period through Saturday, put the total number of deaths at 678, up from 557 the day before. The daily statistics compiled by Sierra Leone’s Emergency Operations Centre also showed 81 new cases of the haemorrhagic fever.

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Ebola was first reported in Guinea in March and has since spread to neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone in what has become the worst epidemic of the disease since Ebola was identified in 1976.

Smaller outbreaks in Nigeria and Senegal were brought under control. The United States last week confirmed its first Ebola case, a Liberian national who had travelled to Texas.

The overall death toll from the epidemic reached 3,439 out of a total of 7,492 cases in West Africa and the United States as of Oct. 1, the World Health Organization said last week. The U.N. agency’s statistics varied from those compiled by Sierra Leone.

After an initial slow response, international assistance and supplies are now pouring into West Africa.

The United States is deploying around 4,000 military personnel to the region to support efforts to combat the outbreak in Liberia, the country worst hit by the disease.

Britain and China have sent personnel to Sierra Leone. Cuba dispatched a 165-member medical team, including specialists and nurses, to Sierra Leone last week.

The country’s deputy health and sanitation minister Madina Rahman said on Saturday that the Cuban team’s mission would last at least six months.

She said the team would be deployed to areas across Sierra Leone.

Reuters