A Sierra Leone official announced Tuesday that a doctor has tested positive for Ebola. The new case is considered as another setback to the nation's fight against the world's worst outbreak. The doctor is the sixth Sierra Leonean physician to become infected in the outbreak.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), healthcare workers are particularly at risk because Ebola is transmitted through bodily fluids of those infected with the deadly virus. And over the weekend, The Guardian reported the number of new Ebola cases in Sierra Leone has increased dramatically, diminishing the hopes for slower infection rate.

Sierra Leone's latest Ebola positive patient, Dr. Martin Salia is a specialist surgeon at a major hospital in the capital of Freetown. According to The Huffington Post, Salia is currently receiving treatment. The nation's chief medical officer, Dr Brima Kargbo refused to give any further information about the case.

Meanwhile, the nation's minister of health and sanitation has released the latest official figures of Ebola cases. As of Sunday, there were 111 new cases recorded, which is the highest daily rate since the ministry began releasing figures in August.

On Saturday, there were 45 new cases reported, including 24 in the capital, Freetown. By Sunday, laboratory results for Freetown patients that include the new British army-built Ebola hospital, showed 40 new cases. There was also an increase in the number of cases in the north district of Freetown, Port Loko, where there are no treatment facilities available.

The number of the latest reported cases came days after the United Nations warned that Ebola cases in Sierra Leone are being underreported by up to fifty percent. This is due to some patients are still not turning to hospitals over fears that they will be turned away or will die isolated from their families.

Sierra Leone's deadliest day was last Oct. 5 when 121 deaths were recorded from Ebola. Based on the daily statistics compiled by the nation's Emergency Operations Centre, that day showed 81 new cases of the virus, fewer than those registered on Sunday.

On Tuesday, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair met with officials in Sierra Leone and urged the global community not to ease off the battle against Ebola. As said by ABC News, Blair has founded the Africa Governance Initiative to help leaders make reforms and meet expansion goals.

"More beds, more medical personnel and laboratory testing need to be done, faster, to be on top of this situation," Blair said.

With the increase in the number of Ebola cases in Port Loko, having 596 confirmed cases, it cause deep concern among medical aid agencies such as Doctors Without Borders (Médecins sans Frontières), International Medical Corps and the Red Cross, who have been insisting for more beds and resources since the beginning of August. The latest figures make Port Loko the third most affected of the 14 districts in Sierra Leone.

On the other hand, the government of Sierra Leone has announced it will pay the family of any healthcare personnel who dies as a result of treating an Ebola patient with a one-off £3,100 ($5,000) payment. The announcement came after a sixth doctor in the West African nation tested positive for the virus.

According to the National Ebola Response Centre, the benefit would be paid retroactively to relatives of over 100 health workers who have died from the disease in Sierra Leone. The figure includes all five doctors who had previously tested positive.

The upsurge in figures in Sierra Leone came as medical charity, Doctors Without Borders, cautioned the global aid response not to get complacent in Liberia, where the infection rate seems to be slowing.

As reported by WHO, at least 1,062 people have died from Ebola in Sierra Leone. The Independent UK said the toll from the epidemic in the three worst hit countries, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, has risen to 4,950 from more than 13,000 people infected.