AP file photo
The government on Wednesday said that no cases of Ebola have been reported in the country so far, according to sources cited by ANI.The ministry of health and family welfare said that no case of Ebola has been detected in India so far, while adding that surveillance and preparedness measures have been strengthened nationwide following the WHO’s declaration of Ebola as a public health emergency of international concern.A high-level review meeting chaired by union health secretary Punya Salila Srivastava was held with health secretaries of all states and Union Territories to assess preparedness and response measures related to Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).During the meeting, states and Union Territories were advised to maintain preparedness at all levels. The Centre said detailed Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) covering pre-arrival and post-arrival screening, quarantine protocols, case management, referral systems and laboratory testing have already been shared with all states and UTs.Srivastava stressed the need for coordinated surveillance, timely reporting and preparedness at designated healthcare facilities during the review meeting. The government said all concerned ministries and departments have been sensitised and are carrying out preventive and surveillance measures in coordination with the health ministry.The ministry also noted that India has prior experience in handling such situations, including during the 2014 Ebola outbreak in Africa, when similar precautionary measures were implemented successfully. The Ebola virus is highly contagious and spreads through contact with bodily fluids such as blood, vomit and semen. Common symptoms include fever, vomiting, diarrhoea, muscle pain and, in severe cases, internal and external bleeding.WHO has declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern and raised concerns over its “scale and speed.” The WHO’s representative in Congo has warned that the outbreak could continue for at least another two months.Health officials said the outbreak involves the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, which reportedly spread undetected for weeks after initial tests for a more common Ebola strain returned negative results.Investigations are still underway to determine when and where the outbreak began. “Given the scale, we are thinking that it has started probably a couple of months ago,” said Anaïs Legand, a technical officer in the WHO emergencies programme, as cited by AP.So far 51 cases have been confirmed in Congo’s northern provinces of Ituri and North Kivu, along with two confirmed cases in Uganda. In addition, authorities are tracking 139 suspected deaths and nearly 600 suspected cases linked to the outbreak.
