KOCHI: As Ebola virus spreads globally and the anxiety is scaring the people, security measures have been briefed up in Kochi International Airport to find out the passengers who arrive with the symptoms and also to arrest the spread. A round-the-clock observation machinery is being organized in the airport.
The security system has been augmented in Kochi in the light of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) declaration of Ebola spread as a Global Health Emergency. It is resolved to make the passengers, either direct or otherwise, from Congo, Uganda and South Sudan, the African countries where virus spread has been reported, undergo special observation. On top of these, thermal screening and visual inspection will be installed to observe the passenger, coming to international terminals, keenly.
The employees and the passengers are strictly instructed to follow personal security parameters including wearing the three-layer masks and handwash using soap or sanitizer. Sophisticated treatment centres have be.en facilitated in Ernakulam district to treat the passengers who carry the symptoms.
The Health Department informs that isolation wards have been set up in Ernakulam General Hospital, Kalamasserry Government Medical College and Aluva District Hospital. Cochin International Airport officials held an emergency meeting to discuss the anxiety about the ‘Bundibugyo’, the most dangerous one among the five species of Ebola. So far any vaccine or medicine has been invented to treat this virus. It increases the significance of the anti-Ebola preparedness. If a patient catches this disease, it will take 2 to 21 days to show the symptoms. Severe fever, throat pain, acute headache, muscular pain, etc. are the initial symptoms. The death rate for Ebola patients is 30 to 50 per cent, It speaks out the seriousness of the disease.
