Delhi Airport issues alert to travelers to India and transit passengers through India of latest Notification issued by Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India as number of deaths from Ebola virus has now crossed 100 in Congo.
The Ebola virus is extremely contagious. The disease is transmitted to the human population through contact with bodily fluids of an infected person such as vomit, blood or semen. The current Ebola outbreak is said to be caused by a rare strain of the virus known as Bundibugyo virus.
The Notification by Union Health Ministry further states that all passengers traveling from countries where Ebola Disease has been reported (referred to as High Risk Countries: DR Congo, Uganda & South Sudan) shall seek immediate medical attention if they develop any of the following symptoms.
- Fever
- Weakness or Fatigue
- Headache
- Muscle Pain
- Vomiting
- Diarrhoea
- Unexplained Bleeding
- Sore Throat
- Exposure through ‘direct contact with blood or body fluids of a person suspected/confirmed to have Ebola Disease’.
Report immediately to the airport health officer/health desk before immigration clearance.
Any traveler who develops these symptoms within 21 days of their arrival, even if mild, should seek medical attention immediately and inform the healthcare provider of their travel history. Please also cooperate with health screening and public health measures in order to protect the safety of all passengers and comply with International Health Regulations (IHR).
“Cooperate with health screening and other public health measures to protect your health and the health of others and to fulfill your responsibilities as a traveler under the International Health Regulations (IHR).”
WHO chief says the ‘scale of the epidemic is much larger’
WHO Declares Outbreak A Public Health Emergency Of International Concern
The World Health Organization (WHO) believes that the Ebola outbreak in central Africa started at a super-spreader event in early May, possibly at a funeral. According to the WHO officials, the disease spread for weeks before the first reported death on April 20 while health officials were busy testing for another, more common form of the virus, Ebola, which they thought he might have. But he had the Bundibugyo virus, a rare form of the disease.
The rare form of the disease — the Bundibugyo virus — appears to have begun spreading weeks before the first reported death on April 20, when authorities were testing for the more common form of Ebola.
There have been 139 reported deaths so far, with 600 or so reported cases of Ebola, mostly suspected, said the WHO chief. “Given the time the virus is likely to have been circulating before the outbreak was first detected, we would expect numbers to continue to rise,” he added. The scale of the epidemic, however, is much larger, said Tedros.
The London-based MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis estimated that cases have been substantially undercounted and that the actual number could already exceed 1,000. “The true magnitude remains uncertain,” it said.