Sierra Leone’s vice president has voluntarily been put in 21-day quarantine after one of his employees died from the disease.
The Associated Press reported that Samuel Sam-Sumana became the highest-ranking official to date to be placed in isolation. He decided on the quarantine following the death of a security staffer.
He is scheduled to serve as acting president while Ernest Bai Koroma is away on business in Europe, so he will be handling business from his home instead of his office.
The AFP noted that at this time the vice president is not exhibiting symptoms and this is being done as a precaution. He did, however, ask residents of Sierra Leone to keep him in their prayers.
“This virus has affected thousands of our people and has nearly brought our country to its knees,” Sam-Sumana said Sunday. “We all have a collective responsibility to break the chains of transmission by isolating the sick and reporting all known contacts, by not touching the dead ... We cannot be complacent. We must work together as a nation to end Ebola now.”
The debilitating disease, which started last year in West Africa has killed close to 10,000 people, mostly in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.