Kenya has stepped up Ebola controls at Nairobi’s main airport, routing passengers arriving from 10 countries through a designated screening gate following the country’s first imported case and death.
Footage filmed on Wednesday shows health officers screening passengers at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, with thermal cameras monitoring temperatures as officials inspect Ebola control measures.
“We are here to continue checking the levels of preparedness for the country, and this is something that we have been doing since May,” said Mary Muthoni, Principal Secretary at Kenya’s Ministry of Health.
“Gate 16 of this port has been designated for the 10 countries that we have proximity with where the virus is high,” she added.
The list includes DRC, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Angola, Zambia and Tanzania.
“We continue to work with the Ministry of Health and other partners to ensure that we strengthen ports of entry, surveillance, contact tracing, case management and all the other areas,” stated Dr Neema Rusibamayila Kimambo, WHO Representative to Kenya.
Authorities are tracing passengers, relatives and health workers who had contact with the Kenyan patient who travelled from DRC and later died.
“Some of those contacts are already currently under quarantine, and the Ministry of Health continues following up the contacts,” explained Wessam Mankhoula, Director of Public Health Emergencies at Africa CDC.
DRC is battling its largest recorded Ebola outbreak, with more than 8,600 confirmed cases and 4,100 deaths reported by early October. The outbreak also spread into Uganda, which recorded 20 cases and two deaths before declaring it over in late August.
Source: Viory
