Seria leone outlaws hide ebola victims

New law passed by parliament stipulates jail term
up to two years for anyone found hiding Ebola
patients.
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 ( WHO) believes has
contributed to a major underestimation of the
current outbreak.
The law passed on Friday imposed prison terms of
up to two years for violators, lawmaker
Organisation Jaiah Kaikai said .
He said the measure was necessary to compel
residents to cooperate with government officials ,
noting that some residents had resisted steps to
combat Ebola and build isolation centres in their
communities.
A total of 2 , 615 infections and 1 , 427 deaths
have been recorded in the Ebola outbreak now
hitting West Africa , according to figures released
on Friday by the WHO .
Sierra Leone has been hard -hit , with at least 910
cases and 392 deaths.
These numbers, however , do not capture all Ebola
cases because families hide patients, fearing high
fatality rates and the stigma that comes with a
positive diagnosis , the UN health agency said .
New treatment centres in Liberia are being
overwhelmed by patients that had not been
previously identified , suggesting an "invisible
caseload" of patients that is going undetected,
the agency said .
Lawmakers in Sierra Leone 's capital Freetown
voted overwhelmingly in favour of the 2014 Public
Health Amendment Act, which amends a 54 -
year- old public health ordinance .
Travel restrictions
Countries in the region and elsewhere in Africa
have continued to impose travel restrictions , even
though this hasn 't been recommended by the UN .
Ivory Coast announced late on Friday it was
closing its land borders with Guinea and Liberia .
Gabon, Senegal , South Africa and Cameroon have
all imposed border restrictions on some or all of
the four countries with confirmed Ebola cases -
Guinea, Liberia , Sierra Leone and Nigeria.
Brussels Airlines, Belgium 's largest carrier,
said it was cancelling flights to the capitals of
Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone for Sunday and
Monday.
On Saturday , the Philippine government said it
was recalling 115 peacekeepers from Liberia
because of the health risks posed by Ebola .