Ebola virus … a losing battle?
GENEVA: The World Health Organisation has set up a task force with the global airline and tourism industry in an effort to contain the spread of Ebola.
The UN agency is working hand in hand with the International Civil Aviation Organisation, the World Tourism Organization, Airports Council International (ACI), the International Air Transport Association and the World Travel and Tourism Council.
The goal, was to “support the global efforts to contain the spread of the disease and provide a coordinated international response for the travel and tourism sector”. It added that the task force would “monitor the situation and provide timely information to the travel and tourism sector as well as to travellers”.
On August 8, the WHO declared a global public health emergency over the outbreak of Ebola, a deadly and highly contagious virus which has spread since the beginning of the year from Guinea to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria.
Concerns over air travel were heightened because the outbreak in Nigeria was traced back to an ill traveller who flew from Liberia and infected contacts in Lagos. The Ebola outbreak has infected more than 2,100 people so far and killed 1,145. The haemorrhagic disease is spread by direct contact with blood and other body fluids of infected living or dead persons or animals.
To head off potential risks, the WHO reaffirmed that affected countries should “conduct exit screening of all persons at international airports, seaports and major land crossings, for unexplained febrile illness consistent with potential Ebola infection”.
Anyone with an illness consistent with Ebola should not be allowed to travel, unless the journey was part of a medical evacuation, nor should people who have had contact with an Ebola case, it said.
Source: Free Malaysia Today
Published: 19 Aug 2014
Category: Features, Health alert
