--- description: Perpetrators can get up to two-year prison sentences title: Sierra Leone Makes Hiding Ebola Patients Illegal image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta564fc8608ba1f0b/6986a0a8f983e7790504f590/453617712.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Health](/section/health/) ## Health Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Infectious Disease](/tag/infectious-disease/) ## Infectious Disease Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # It's Now Illegal to Hide Ebola Patients in Sierra Leone by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 23, 2014 2:26 PM CUT  A Sierra Leone government burial team with the coffin of Dr Modupeh Cole, Sierra Leone's second senior physician to die of Ebola, at the MSF facility in Kailahun, Sierra Leone, on Aug. 14, 2014. A Sierra Leone government burial team with the coffin of Dr Modupeh Cole, Sierra Leone's second senior physician to die of Ebola, at the MSF facility in Kailahun, Sierra Leone, on Aug. 14, 2014.Carl De Souza—AFP/Getty Images by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 23, 2014 2:26 PM CUT In a move meant to help the country more effectively combat a deadly Ebola outbreak, Sierra Leone approved a measure Friday that would impose [jail time](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/sierra-leone-makes-hiding-ebola-patients-illegal "undefined") on anyone caught hiding someone infected with the virus. The law, an amendment to the country’s 1960 Public Health Act, imposes prison sentences of up to two years for violators, the Associated Press reports. Sierra Leone has recorded at least 910 cases and 392 deaths as part of the current outbreak, according to the World Health Organization. Many cases, however, go unrecorded when families hide patients out of fear of high fatality rates and the stigma that comes with a positive diagnosis. \[[_AP_](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/sierra-leone-makes-hiding-ebola-patients-illegal "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3164724/its-now-illegal-to-hide-ebola-patients-in-sierra-leone/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3164724/its-now-illegal-to-hide-ebola-patients-in-sierra-leone/"},"headline":"It's Now Illegal to Hide Ebola Patients in Sierra Leone","datePublished":"2014-08-23T14:26:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:49:15.105Z","description":"Perpetrators can get up to two-year prison sentences","url":"https://time.com/3164724/its-now-illegal-to-hide-ebola-patients-in-sierra-leone/","keywords":["Infectious Disease"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta564fc8608ba1f0b/6986a0a8f983e7790504f590/453617712.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta564fc8608ba1f0b/6986a0a8f983e7790504f590/453617712.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"SLEONE-HEALTH-EBOLA-WEST-AFRICA","caption":"SLEONE-HEALTH-EBOLA-WEST-AFRICA","creditText":"Carl De Souza—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/infectious-disease/","name":"Infectious Disease"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3164724/its-now-illegal-to-hide-ebola-patients-in-sierra-leone/","name":"It's Now Illegal to Hide Ebola Patients in Sierra Leone"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Meet The CDC Doctors Fighting Ebola","description":"Meet The CDC Doctors Fighting Ebola","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/G194AmTC/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-08-13T23:41:12.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/G194AmTC.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3164724/its-now-illegal-to-hide-ebola-patients-in-sierra-leone/","duration":"PT2M32S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3164724/its-now-illegal-to-hide-ebola-patients-in-sierra-leone/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```