Sierra Leone has announced the return of Ebola to its capital Freetown, dashing hopes that health authorities in the densely-populated city of 1.2 million had beaten the deadly outbreak.

The government’s National Ebola Response Centre (NERC) told AFP late on Tuesday three cases had emerged in the east-end slum of Magazine Wharf — three weeks after the last known infections in the capital.

Health officials said six people have been under observation since the first of the new cases — a casual labourer — tested positive on June 17.

Authorities are concerned that the case could lead to a mini-outbreak in the overcrowded fishing community, which has poor sanitation and is regularly hit by outbreaks of malaria and cholera.

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