President Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone has declared a state emergency due to the spread of the Ebola virus in the country.

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According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 729 people have already died in West Africa (Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia) since February 2014 because of the virus. Among countries that have reported cases of the virus, Sierra Leone has the highest number of cases so far with 233 reported deaths.

In a speech made by President Koroma on Wednesday, he stated that "Extraordinary challenges require extraordinary measures."  He said that the state of emergency would initially last between 60 to 90 days.

He has ordered both the military and the police to quarantine Ebola victims and areas where there have been reported cases to prevent the spread of the virus.

Both military and police personnel were also ordered to assist health officers and various NGOs due to reports of some local communities attacking health workers.

The implementation of house-to-house searches would also be done in order to trace possible Ebola victims. Houses that were previously occupied by those infected by the virus would be quarantined until it is cleared by medical personnel.

Additionally, to further prevent the spread of the virus, President Koroma announced that all public meetings would be banned unless such meetings were related to Ebola.

He also stated that he would be having a meeting with officials from Liberia and Guinea in Guinea's capital, Conarky, on Friday to discuss ways on how to tackle the epidemic.

President Koroma also announced that he would be cancelling his trip to Washington for the US - Africa Leaders Summit due to the possible spread of the virus.  According to a White House spokesman, about 50 leaders from Africa are expected to attend the summit.  

In his speech, President Koroma said that "Sierra Leone is in a great fight ... failure is not an option."