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The BBC's Umaru Fofana says frenetic shopping had been taking place ahead of the lockdown
A three-day curfew has begun in Sierra Leone to enable health workers to find and isolate cases of Ebola, in order to halt the spread of the disease.
Many people have been reluctant to seek medical treatment for Ebola, fearing that diagnosis might mean death as there is no proven cure.
A team of 30,000 people is going house-to-house to find those infected and distribute soap.
But critics say the lockdown will damage public trust in doctors.
Meanwhile in neighbouring Guinea, the bodies of eight missing health workers and journalists involved in the Ebola campaign have been found.
A government spokesman said some of the bodies had been recovered from a septic tank in the village of Wome. The team had been attacked by villagers on Tuesday.
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US ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power: ''It is going to spread to other countries... if we do not dramatically scale up our efforts''
Correspondents say many villagers are suspicious of official attempts to combat the disease and the incident illustrates the difficulties health workers face.
Sierra Leone is one of the countries worst hit by West Africa's Ebola outbreak, with more than 550 victims among the 2,600 deaths so far recorded.
WHO officials say that under the curfew, Sierra Leone's six million citizens cannot leave their homes between 07:00 and 19:00 each day.
After dark, they can go outdoors but cannot leave their area, and shops will remain shut. Earlier reports had suggested that residents would have to stay indoors for the entire lockdown.
'Lives at stake'During the curfew, 30,000 volunteers will look for people infected with Ebola, or bodies, which are especially contagious.
The teams are also handing out bars of soap and information on preventing infection.
Officials say the teams will not enter people's homes but will call emergency services to deal with patients or bodies.
On Thursday, President Ernest Bai Koroma said: "These are extraordinary times and extraordinary times require extraordinary measures."
He urged citizens to avoid touching each other, visiting the sick or avoid attending funerals.
Freetown resident Christiana Thomas told the BBC: "People are afraid of going to the hospital because everyone who goes there is tested for Ebola."
The BBC's Umaru Fofana in Sierra Leone
Even the heavy downpour that deluged Freetown on Thursday did not stop thousands of people from rushing to supermarkets and vegetable markets to stock up on food ahead of the lockdown.
The government hopes this drastic action will prove to be the magic bullet in the battle to stop the spread of Ebola, which has hit 13 of the country's 14 districts.
A supermarket attendant in Freetown told me she that she has had to restock her shelves five times in two days - a mark of the brisk buying that's going on by those who can afford it.
"I'm here to get some food and beverages for my family that will last us the whole weekend," Christian Thomas told the BBC. "I've also bought dozens of litres of fuel for my generator should the lights go out as is so often the case," he said.
In the poor suburb of Calaba Town survival is on the minds of many. Customers and traders alike wondered how they would manage to pull it off.
The UN Security Council on Thursday declared the outbreak a "threat to international peace" and called on states to provide more resources to combat it.
Stretched resourcesMeanwhile, the US military has started work in the Liberian capital Monrovia to establish an air bridge - a link by air transport - to take health workers and supplies to affected parts of west Africa.
The UK has pledged to help build new treatment centres and provide facilities for 700 new hospital beds in Sierra Leone, although a majority of the beds could take several months to arrive.
Aid workers have welcomed the UK aid but say all of the beds are required immediately, the BBC's International Development Correspondent Mark Doyle reports.
In the hours leading up to Sierra Leone's lockdown, there was traffic gridlock in Freetown as people stocked up on cooking oil, rice and other essentials.
Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has been strongly critical of the lockdown, arguing that ultimately it will help spread the disease as such measures "end up driving people underground and jeopardising the trust between people and health providers".
But the authorities insist that the measure "will minimise the spread of the virus", and that thousands of officials would be deployed to make sure residents stayed indoors.
Ebola virus disease (EVD)- Symptoms include high fever, bleeding and central nervous system damage
- Spread by body fluids, such as blood and saliva
- Fatality rate can reach 90% - but current outbreak has mortality rate of about 55%
- Incubation period is two to 21 days
- There is no proven vaccine or cure
- Supportive care such as rehydrating patients who have diarrhoea and vomiting can help recovery
- Fruit bats, a delicacy for some West Africans, are considered to be virus's natural host
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1,459 Liberia
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601 Guinea
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562 Sierra Leone
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8 Nigeria
Getty
Have you been locked down because of the Ebola in Sierra Leone? You can send us your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk
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