WHO orders Ebola tests at Entebbe Airport

Kampala. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has ordered authorities at Entebbe International Airport to carry out mandatory Ebola screening of all passengers coming to Uganda through the airport.

Initially, airport authorities were screening only passengers on flights from Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where the disease has killed 370 people.

However, according to Simon Ebachu, the head of Ebola screening at WHO, all passengers entering the country should be screened.

The mandatory screening comes at a time when the DRC is struggling to contain the Ebola that broke out in August last year in the North Kivu Province, along the border with Uganda.

According to statistics from the DRC Health Ministry, at least 400 people have contracted the Ebola virus.

To facilitate the screening, according to Mr Ebachu, more than 40 health workers have been stationed at the airport to screen the passengers.

Mr Ebachu says passengers will be screened using an Automatic Thermal Stand to measure their temperature on arrival at the airport.

As soon an infected person is detected, Mr Ebachu said, he or she will be taken to an isolation centre at Entebbe Referral Hospital.

Mr Bonny Natukunda, the District Health Educator, Wakiso District, says that the government is training different Village Health Teams to handle Ebola cases in case they occur in the community.

In May, the Ministry of Health reinstated Ebola virus screening at all border posts. (NMG)