Aug 25, 2014 safety, news, aftermarket, economy, business
Late last week the SA government met to update its standing on the Ebola outbreak and has decided to place restrictions on travel for SA citizens into and out of effected areas, while banning incomers from the Ebola hit West African nations.
According the press release issued on Thursday: “Cabinet decided as follows:
A total travel ban for all non-citizens travelling from these high risk countries (Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone), unless the travel is considered absolutely essential;
For citizens of South Africa who wish to travel to these countries, they will be requested to delay their travel unless it is also absolutely essential for them to travel;
For South African citizens returning from these countries, they will have to be subjected to a stricter screening process that is as follows:
Completing a comprehensive health questionnaire before being allowed entry back into the country;
If the comprehensive medical questionnaire and the temperature screening reveal something, they will have to subject themselves to a complete medical examination
For medium and low risk countries, the normal surveillance that has been going on will just be enhanced.”
SA's decision follows similar moves by the governments of Kenya and Zambia, while several other African states have restricted air travel to and from infected area. Following the announcement, the DA issued its own statement. It said:
“The DA welcomes Minister of Health, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi’s, announcement today to suspend all travel by non-South Africans to and from Ebola-affected countries.”
“We also welcome the Minister’s intention to medically examine and screen all South Africans returning from these countries until further notice. The recent Ebola outbreak in West Africa was declared an international public health emergency by the World Health Organisation (WHO) earlier this month, following the spread of the disease to various West African countries where it has claimed the lives of over 1000 people to date.”
It added: “The threat of Ebola entering South Africa’s borders was exacerbated by its detection in Lagos, Nigeria, one of Africa’s most populous cities, and a country from which many people travel to South Africa on a daily basis. The spread of this deadly disease to South Africa is a serious public health threat. We support Minister Motsoaledi’s proactive approach.”
An article that appeared on the BDLive website said however, that: “Enforcing a ban on outbound travel will be difficult, as most South African travellers to the high-risk countries go via countries the government has categorised as medium risk — Nigeria, Kenya and Ethiopia. However, Dr Motsoaledi said his appeal was directed at citizens, not “tsotsis”.”
Journalist Linda Ensor added: “The Cabinet has allocated R32.5m to support containment of the virus. Some funds will be used to deploy a mobile laboratory in Sierra Leone, pay for transport and accommodation for the team, and train healthcare workers.”
For more information on the disease and health warnings, you can visit the National Institute for Communicable Diseases http://www.nicd.ac.za.
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