New Delhi: Six Indian nationals who arrived at Delhi airport on Tuesday morning from Liberia, have been isolated and taken for further tests. The Delhi and Mumbai international airports have been put on alert as 112 Indian passengers are arriving from the Ebola-hit African nation Liberia from different flights on Tuesday. Sixty-six Indian nationals, who returned to Mumbai from Liberia, were on Tuesday screened for the deadly virus after their arrival at the international airport. All of them were found healthy. The 13 Indians who landed in New Delhi are also healthy and have tested negative for the deadly Ebola virus. So far, only two male passengers who have returned from Nigeria have been quarantined after they exhibited Ebola-like symptoms of fever and diarrohea. However, after being kept in isolation at two different hospitals, doctors said they were asymptomatic and could be discharged. This week, a 32-years-old man's blood samples were also sent to Pune's National Institute of Virology (NIV) for testing. However, the results were negative for the dreaded Ebola virus.
According to airport authorities, precautionary measures have been taken to screen the Indian nationals returning from the Ebola-hit nation as soon as their flights arrive. “As part of the tentative plan, the aircraft will be first taken to a remote bay and all passengers will be screened at the step-ladder exit after the arrival of flights at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA),” Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) said. It said that while the passengers without any symptoms will be cleared and shifted to terminal for immigration and customs clearance, those coming from Liberia with symptoms suggestive of EVD, will be directly shifted to designated hospital in ambulance from the bay.
These passengers will be flown to Mumbai by Ethiopian Airline, Emirates, Etihad, Qatar, Jet and South African Airways, said MIAL. However, some of these passengers will first arrive in Delhi and then come to Mumbai by domestic airlines flight. MIAL added that the flights will be allowed to board next passengers only after thirty minutes of disinfection. The World Health Organization on Tuesday said that the deadly Ebola outbreak in West Africa has been unprecedented in many ways. A high proportion of healthcare workers are among those infected with the virus. So far, over 250 healthcare workers, including doctors and nurses, have contacted the disease in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone and over 120 have died, IANS quoting Chinese news agency Xinhua, reported. According to the WHO, the virus has taken the lives of doctors in Sierra Leone and Liberia, depriving these hard-hit countries not only of experienced medical care but also of inspiring national heroes.
