Four members of a  family U.S. Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan stayed with were locked up in their Texas apartment under armed surveillance Thursday as the web of people who might have been exposed to  the virus has widened.

The confinement order was imposed after members of the family failed to comply with the request not to leave their apartment for at least 3 weeks, the virus' incubation period, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said.

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David Larkey, Texas State Health Commissioner, said the unusual confinement order was made to help ensure that health workers will be able to monitor the four family members and check them for fevers and other symptoms for the next 21 days.

Larkey said a confinement order was the only way to get the family to cooperate with health authorities and investigators and to prevent the spread of the disease.

" We didn't have the confidence we would have been able to monitor them the way that we needed to," said Larkey.

Larkey said the family is not allowed to accept visitors for the whole three weeks that they are under quarantine.

Duncan, a former chauffeur in Liberia, is the first man to be diagnosed with the Ebola virus in the United States. Reports said Duncan is in a serious condition at the Texas Presbyterian Hospital.

Reportedly, Duncan helped a pregnant Ebola patient in Liberia, four days before he traveled to the U.S., where he was diagnosed.

Earlier, at least 18 people were reported to have had contact with Duncan, including five schoolchildren.

Reports state that anyone who may have been exposed to the virus has been contacted by health investigators and are now being medically monitored.

Liberian authorities have threatened to prosecute Duncan for allegedly lying on an airport questionnaire.

United States citizens are wary and have raised questions on whether the Ebola virus that has spread and killed more than 3,000 people in West Africa could   spread in the U.S.

U.S. health workers have been assuring the American public that the situation is under control and that they are confident that they can contain the virus. 

TagsDallas, Ebola Virus, CDC, Texas Presbyterian Hospital, Virus, outbreak, West Africa, quarantine