Due to reports regarding Ebola virus diagnoses that have been made in the two districts of Kambia and Port Loko, the president of Sierra Leone, Ernest Bai Koroma, has placed a mandatory curfew between dusk and dawn, effective immediately. With the Ebola virus having already completely consumed Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the president has prohibited all movement within the two districts in an effort to determine how far the fatal disease has spread, but containment has proven problematic due to diagnosed patients escaping quarantine and burial rituals being performed on the deceased, encouraging transmission.
On Friday, during a televised public announcement, Koromo stated that he has already ordered security officials in the Port Loko and Kambia districts to, without delay, put into action a high-ranking level type of curfew, between the hours of 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. in order to regulate movement. As of right now, the curfew will be lasting for a period of 21 days, which is the same amount of time that it will take for any person who had been exposed to the Ebola virus disease to begin to develop symptoms of infection. For all who take it upon themselves to disregard this newly instituted curfew will find that they will be persecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
In West Africa, there has been well over 13,000 lives lost as a result of the Ebola virus disease. Even though some countries like Nigeria have seemingly appeared to rid themselves of the deadly disease, Liberia and Sierra Leone are still struggling to ensure their survival against the virus during this catastrophic ordeal.
