The vice-president of Sierra Leone has put himself into quarantine after one of his bodyguards died from Ebola.<\/p>\n
Samuel Sam-Sumana said he would stay out of contact with others for 21 days as a precaution.<\/p>\n
There was optimism the virus was on the decline in Sierra Leone at the end of last year but there has been a recent increase in confirmed cases.<\/p>\n
Nearly 10,000 people have died in the outbreak, the vast majority in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.<\/p>\n
‘Taking no chances’<\/p>\n
Mr Sam-Sumana said on Saturday that he had chosen to be quarantined to “lead by example” after the death of his bodyguard, John Koroma, last week.<\/p>\n
He told Reuters news agency that he was “very well” and showing no signs of the illness, but said he did not want to “take chances”.<\/p>\n
His staff have also been placed under observation.<\/p>\n
He is the country’s first senior government figure to subject himself to a voluntary quarantine.<\/p>\n
Officials in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia have pledged to achieve zero Ebola infections within the next two months.<\/p>\n
But authorities in Sierra Leone have reinstated some restrictions in the country after a recent spate of news cases.<\/p>\n
Of 99 cases recorded in the region in the week beginning 16 February, 63 were in Sierra Leone, according to the World Health Organization.<\/p>\n
The government in the capital, Freetown, said it was gravely concerned about the new cases.<\/p>\n
It said many of them had been connected with maritime activities and checks on ferries and other vessels had been increased in response.<\/p>\n
President Ernest Bai Koroma has also ordered public transport operators to reduce capacity by 25% to limit physical contact between passengers.<\/p>\n
In all, more than 23,500 cases have been reported in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea since the world’s worst outbreak began in December 2013.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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