Health workers in Sierra Leone began combing the streets of Freetown for Ebola patients on Wednesday, moving house-to-house as the government launched a major operation to contain infections in West Africa¡¯s worst-hit country.

President Ernest Bai Koroma said on national television that, as part of ¡°Operation Western Area Surge,¡± travel between all parts of the country would be restricted and public gatherings would be restrained in the runup to Christmas.

An encounter in the Devil¡¯s Hole neighborhood just outside Freetown showed why the program was vital. Ibrahim Kamara sat in a discarded vehicle tire, his eyes glassy and his breath coming in gasps, as he tried to answer questions from Ebola surveillance officers.