Government has strengthened surveillance and increased the level of alertness by installing fever-detecting equipment at all border entry points with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where Ebola has reportedly broken out.
“We have started raising the level of alertness in our systems and strengthening surveillance, especially at those entry points we share with the DRC where there is an outbreak of an epidemic similar to Ebola,” Dr Chilufya said yesterday.
Yesterday afternoon, teams were dispatched to install equipment at these borders which include infra-red thermometers to detect fever and screen people entering the country.
Dr Chilufya said: “Health workers have also been equipped with protective clothing and we are going to install scanners with network systems that detect fever in a crowd of people and pick out infected people. This system is highly efficient and we shall put it at all airports and other points of entry.”
According to the Daily Mail of the UK, a medical team was earlier yesterday dispatched to DRC’s Equateur Province to investigate whether the Ebola virus has re-emerged in the area.
The latest outbreak of Ebola in West Africa - the worst ever - has already killed more than 1,200 people in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria, and experts warn it is not yet under control.
DRC does not share a border with any of the countries already known to be affected by the epidemic, but reports of a potential outbreak there are a serious cause for concern.
And JIMMY CHIBUYE in Chavuma reports that the district is vulnerable and can easily contract the deadly Ebola virus, which has claimed over 1,000 lives in West Africa, if it breaks out in Angola, district commissioner Laurence Kayumba has said.
Mr Kayumba said here yesterday that Chavuma is close to Angola and has only two officials manning the Chiingi border post and the district has no capacity to handle the Ebola virus if it breaks out.
The highly-contagious Ebola virus can kill up to 90 percent of its victims. There is no known vaccine for the disease. http://www.daily-mail.co.zm/index.php/local-news/item/8256-state-strengthens-ebola-watch
