Sierra Leonean Vice President Samuel Sam-Sumana placed himself under a 21-day quarantine Saturday after one of his bodyguards died of Ebola.
Sam-Sumana told Reuters, "I have decided to be put under quarantine because I do not want to take chances and I want to lead by example. I am very well and showing no signs of illness."
Doctors say the incubation period for Ebola — the period between infection with the virus and the appearance of symptoms — is 21 days.
Cases of the deadly disease have increased over the past two weeks in West Africa, following a drop in their numbers. The World Health Origination confirmed 63 new cases last week in Sierra Leone.
President Ernest Bai Koroma has reimposed curfews and other travel measures in the country to try to lessen or prevent close contact between passengers on boats, taxis and public transportation.
Ebola has killed nearly 10,000 people in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia over the past year, along with a handful of health workers and others in several Western nations.
