Sierra Leone voted to pass a new amendment to its health act, imposing possible jail time for anyone caught hiding an Ebola patient, a practice the World Health Organization believes has contributed to a major underestimation of the current outbreak.

The new law, an update to the country’s 1960 Public Health Act, was passed on Friday and imposes prison terms of up to two years for violators, said lawmaker Ansumana Jaiah Kaikai.

The measure was necessary to compel residents to cooperate with government officials, Kaikai said, noting that some residents had resisted steps to combat Ebola including the construction of isolation centers in their communities.

“This amendment seeks to address these emerging bottlenecks,” he added. The amendment now goes for presidential assent.

The country’s health ministry warned back in June that it was a serious crime to shelter someone infected with Ebola.

Sierra Leone has been hit hard by the current outbreak, recording at least 910 cases and 392 deaths, according to figures released Friday by the World Health Organization.

A total of 2,615 infections and 1,427 deaths have been recorded across West Africa.