France has begun rolling out Ebola checks at Paris -Charles de Gaulle airport for passengers arriving from Guinea, one of countries worst-affected by the disease.
It comes amid growing concerns in Europe over the spread of the disease. Air France flight attendants called for a halt to flights from Conakry over fears of spreading the epidemic.
In Belgium the fear of Ebola is also taking hold. It remains the only country which operates flights to West Africa’s three worst affected countries and has yet to begin passenger screenings. The Health Minister nominated an Ebola tsar to deal with airport workers’ concerns.
“We really need solid information and a clear procedure to follow from the airport authorities as well as from the government,” explained one airport worker.
In Spain, all four suspected cases hospitalised on Thursday tested negative for Ebola on Friday. The country is on high alert after Teresa Romero, a nurse who had treated infected priests repatriated from Sierra Leone, became the first person to contract the virus outside West Africa. Still in isolation her condition is said to be improving.
“Teresa is a lot better. She is taking in liquids, juices, soups. She is in good spirits,” said a close friend of Romero.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) is set to declare Nigeria and Senegal Ebola-free zones by Monday. But the front line of the disease remains in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea where it is spiralling out of control.
The WHO have admitted to botching the response to the outbreak in a draft report obtained by the Associated Press news agency. It says that they should have realised that traditional infectious disease control methods wouldn’t work in a region with porous borders and broken health systems.
