(Newswire.net — October 3, 2014) — The health officials said 80 people may have come into contact with Duncan, NBC reported.
Additionally, state officials delivered the order on Wednesday night that family members must stay home until Oct. 19 and not have any visitors without approval.
Meanwhile, as Duncan is in serious condition in a Dallas hospital, Liberian authorities said they will prosecute him when he returns home for allegedly lying on his airport departure screening questionnaire about whether he had had contact with a person infected with the virus.
Binyah Kesselly, chairman of the board of directors of the Liberia Airport Authority, told reporters that people like Duncan and Patrick Sawyer, a Liberian-American with Ebola who traveled to Nigeria and infected people there, have brought a “stigma” upon Liberians living abroad, and he “will be prosecuted”.
Apparently, on the form obtained by the Associated Press and confirmed by a Liberian government official, Duncan answered “no” to questions about whether he was anyhow in contact with infected Ebola patients or deceased ones.
According to New York Times reports, a few days before he left Liberia for the United States, Duncan — a LIberian national — helped carry 19-year-old Marthalene Williams into a taxi to go to the hospital after her family was unable to get an ambulance.
Seven months pregnant Williams was turned away at the hospital because of lack of space in the Ebola ward, the Times reports. later that evening, she died at her home.
It is not clear whether Duncan knew of the woman’s diagnosis, which initially appeared to be pregnancy related, at the time he left the country.
“Prosecuting an Ebola patient for lying on his screening form represents a particularly harsh treatment for someone on the precipice of death,” said Jens David Ohlin, a professor of law at Cornell Law School in New York.
“Usually, compassion is the order of the day for Ebola patients. However, the Liberian government is clearly concerned that members of the public will not take their screening protocols seriously. If Ebola patients know that there are no legal consequences for lying on these forms, they will not take the screening seriously. And if travelers don’t take the screening seriously, other countries will respond by closing air travel to Liberia.” said Ohlin.
Ebola has killed 3,338, and according to the World Health Organization, has infected 7,178 people in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Senegal and Nigeria.