The President of Sierra Leone declared a state of emergency on Wednesday due to the deadly Ebola virus spreading through the country.
The declaration will remain in effect for 60 to 90 days, and will give authorities greater means of containing the infection.
President Ernest Bai Koroma said that the government is responding to the Ebola outbreak aggressively.
"I hereby proclaim a State of Public Emergency to enable us take a more robust approach to deal with the Ebola outbreak," he said in a speech. "All epicenters of the disease will be quarantined."
Security forces will be called in to help police traffic in and out of the epicenters, and will help protect health workers and charity organizations working in the country. There have been reports of health care workers being attacked, and infected patients being forcibly removed from health centers by family members.
Some citizens who tested positive for Ebola have fled hospitals and are in hiding, and President Koroma said that authorities will search for them house-to house.
There will also be new procedures for persons traveling in and out of the country's Lungi International Airport, but Koroma did not provide details of the new protocols.
The President was scheduled to attend the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit at the White House next week, but instead will meet with Sierra Leone regional leaders in an emergency meeting.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Ebola virus disease, or Ebola hemorrhagic fever, typically causes fever, diarrhea, vomiting, headache, joint pain, and other symptoms.
The disease is transmitted by coming into contact with the bodily fluid of an infected person, or touching objects such as needles that have come into contact with infected bodily fluid.
The outbreak began in southern Guinea in February, and quickly spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone. At least 672 people have been killed by the virus, and there is no cure. The mortality rate of the current outbreak is 60 percent.
