Healthcare

Sierra Leone makes hiding Ebola patients illegal

By Clarence RoyMacaulay
Published August 23, 2014 7:57pm ET
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Sierra Leone makes hiding Ebola patients illegal
A Liberian soldier, right, scans people for signs of the Ebola virus, as they control people from entering the West Point area in the city of Monrovia, Liberia, Saturday, Aug. 23, 2014. The outbreak also continues to spread elsewhere in West Africa, with 142 more cases recorded, bringing the new total to more than 2,600 with over 1,400 deaths, the World Health Organization said Friday. Most of the new cases are in Liberia, where the government was delivering donated rice to a slum where 50,000 people have been sealed off from the rest of the capital in an attempt to contain the outbreak. (AP Photo/Abbas Dulleh) | Abbas Dulleh

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — Sierra Leone has passed a new law imposing possible jail time for anyone caught hiding an Ebola patient — a common practice that the World Health Organization believes has contributed to a major underestimation of the current outbreak.

The new law, passed Friday, imposes prison terms of up to two years for violators, said lawmaker Ansumana Jaiah Kaikai. It now goes for presidential approval.

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Ebola Sierra Leone World