Sierra Leone faces deadliest day in Ebola outbreak

Sunday marked one of the deadliest days in this year’s Ebola epidemic. In Sierra Leone, the disease claimed 121 lives in 24 hours. The nation’s death toll has now jumped to 678, and 81 additional cases of the hemorrhagic fever were recorded over the weekend.

Ashoka Mukpo, an NBC News freelance cameraman, marks the fifth American infected with Ebola. Today, he arrived in Nebraska for treatment. The journalist claims he may have contracted the disease from cleaning an infected car.

The United States Government announced today it will soon deploy 4,000 soldiers to support Liberia’s treatment efforts. The country has been most severely hit by Ebola overall, taking 2,069 lives.

Before deploying, the soldiers will go through two days of intensive training with professionals from the Centers for Disease Control. They will additionally be trained by medical personnel from Fort Detrick, Maryland, on protection measures.

Federal Health officials are currently in debate regarding extra health screening measures at U.S. airports.

The last recorded overall death toll stands at 3,439.