Published: 2015-09-04 14:38:31

Just five days into a six-week countdown to declare the African nation of Sierra Leone Ebola-free, nearly 1,000 people have been quarantined following the death of a 67-year-old woman who tested positive for Ebola.

It is believed that those quarantined may have come in contact with the woman and are highly likely to contract the deadly Ebola virus.

The quarantine will last for three weeks, provided no new cases are recorded.

More than 11,000 people have died since the start of the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia.

According to a BBC report, the authorities in Sierra Leone were optimistic as no new Ebola cases have been recorded in a while. They believed that they had the virus under control.

Now that someone else has died of the virus, the authorities have implemented a stricter quarantine than previous ones which includes a curfew in which people will not be allowed to move from one house to another.

The World Health Organization is planning to vaccinate everyone who may have in contact with the deceased woman who died of Ebola.

The Ebola virus is an infectious and generally fatal disease marked by fever and severe internal bleeding.

The virus is transmitted to people from wild animals and spreads in the human population through human-to-human transmission.