MADRID: Countries across the world scrambled yesterday to stem a deadly Ebola outbreak that UN officials warn is getting worse as New York’s main JFK airport prepared to screen travellers from epidemic-hit west Africa.
And in Madrid, the serious condition of a Spanish nurse, who was the first person to become infected with Ebola outside of Africa, showed signs of improving.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) reported that 4,033 people have died from Ebola as of October 8 out of a total of 8,399 registered cases in seven countries and the disease appears to be outpacing efforts to fight it.
“The virus is far ahead of us and every day the situation gets worse,” the head of the United Nations’ emergency Ebola mission Anthony Banbury, told UN leaders after a tour of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, the nations worst affected by the epidemic.
At John F Kennedy Intern-ational Airport in New York, passengers and crew arriving from the three countries at the centre of the outbreak will have their temperatures taken and be screened for signs of illness and answer questions about possible exposure, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
Amid fears of a global contagion, two countries yesterday ruled out suspect cases. The Brazilian health ministry reported a Guinean man tested negative for Ebola. And in Macedonia, tests showed that a British man who died displaying Ebola-like symptoms did not have the virus, officials said.
In Spain, attention remained focused on 44-year-old nurse Teresa Romero, whose condition “improved in the night. The Spanish hospital source added that doctors started treating Romero with the experimental Ebola treatment ZMapp. Britain held a nationwide exercise yesterday to test its preparedness for an Ebola outbreak. The eight-hour drill featured actors pretending to be infected with Ebola plus medical staff treating them at locations around the country. AFP
