Attention flyers! Delhi airport issues advisory as Ebola Virus death toll surges over 100 in Congo

The Delhi Airport, citing a Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) notice, on Thursday issued an advisory for passengers travelling from or transiting through countries reporting Ebola disease, as the death toll for the virus surged to over 100 in Congo.

The Ebola virus is highly contagious and spreads in the human population through contact with bodily fluids such as vomit, blood or semen. The current outbreak is attributed to a rare type of the virus, Bundibugyo virus.

The advisory by the Union Health Ministry cautioned passengers who have travelled from countries reporting Ebola Disease — DR Congo, Uganda & South Sudan (High Risk Countries), and asked them to take “immediate action” if they are experiencing any of the following symptoms:

• Fever
• Weakness or Fatigue
• Headache
• Muscle Pain
• Vomiting
• Diarrhoea
• Unexplained Bleeding
• Sore Throat

Or if the passengers have had “direct contact with blood or body fluids of a person suspected/confirmed to have Ebola Disease”.

“Immediately report to the airport health officer/health desk before immigration clearance,” the advisory read.

Delhi airport also said that any traveller developing the above symptoms within 21 DAYS of arrival should immediately seek medical care and inform healthcare authorities about their travel history.

“Please cooperate with health screening and public health measures in the interest of passenger safety and International Health Regulations (IHR),” it added.

WHO chief says the 'scale of the epidemic is much larger’

The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, and is worried over its “scale and speed.” It said “patient zero” has not been found.

WHO officials said that the Ebola outbreak probably started months ago in central Africa and spread undetected until a super-spreader event in early May, possibly a funeral, according to Bloomberg.

The rare type of Ebola, known as the Bundibugyo virus, spread undetected for weeks following the first known death reported on April 20, while authorities tested for another, more common Ebola virus and came up negative.

There are 139 suspected deaths and almost 600 suspected cases. “We expect the numbers to keep increasing given the amount of time the virus was circulating before the outbreak was detected,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. But “the scale of the epidemic is much larger”.

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.

The most promising experimental shot will probably take six to nine months to be available for clinical trials, the agency said.

(with agency inputs)