Airports to be equipped with thermal scanners and other detection tool

[AVERAGE INDIAN]

Airports to be equipped with thermal scanners and other detection tools as India gears up to protect against Ebola virus

India has put in place the same surveillance-tracking systems for checking the dreaded Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) which has succeeded in Nigeria, leading to the African nation being declared "Ebola-Free" by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Monday.

Declaring this on Tuesday, Harsh Vardhan, Union Health Minister, pointed out that India already has a highly rated integrated disease surveillance network.

"We have removed all stops to constantly upgrade equipment and retrain staff and are in the process of further strengthening them," he said.
All international airports and sea ports will soon be equipped with thermal scanners and other Ebola detection equipment for 24/7 deployment, the health minister announced
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All international airports and sea ports will soon be equipped with thermal scanners and other Ebola detection equipment for 24/7 deployment, the health minister announced

The minister, who held another meeting of officials of the Health Ministry and representatives of the Ministries of Defence, Civil Aviation, Home, Shipping and External Affairs, some state governments, the Indian Army, Navy and National Disaster Management Authority, said all international airports and sea ports will soon be equipped with thermal scanners and other Ebola detection equipment for 24x7 deployment.

Officials of the WHO and United States Centre for Disease Control and Prevention were also present. The use of thermal scanners, which made Nigeria's success possible, is widely prevalent in most of the 15 major airports.

Another lot of scanners will be purchased and installed over the next few days at the minister's orders, officials said.

Harsh Vardhan said, "These scanners, which resemble the radar guns used by police officers to catch speeding motorists, can detect high body temperature among people queued up before immigration counters.

"Fever is one of the commonest symptoms of Ebola. Our officials have already used thermal scanners when SARS broke out in southeast Asia some years back."

Health authorities at New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport conducted a mock drill on Tuesday to test the alertness of the Ebola detection centre there.

The minister has instructed that similar tests should be conducted at all airports within a few days and at regular intervals. Harsh Vardhan sought detailed reports from representatives of all the ministries and discussed ways to strengthen the surveillance systems.

As of now, there has not been a single case of an Ebola patient arriving in India. A few people with high body temperature were quarantined and their blood samples sent to two designated laboratories for tests. Another 10 laboratories are being kept on standby in case of necessity

Read more: Airports to be equipped with thermal scanners and other detection tools as India gears up to protect against Ebola virus | Daily Mail Online
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[W.G.Ewald]

Re: Airports to be equipped with thermal scanners and other detection

Thanks to patient isolation and aggressive contact tracing (including 18,500 visits to 894 people), Nigeria had just 20 Ebola cases, including eight deaths — a far lower death rate than the 70 percent seen elsewhere.

How 1 doctor saved Nigeria from Ebola catastrophe

There is more to containing ebola than thermal scanners.

Officials are crediting strong tracking and isolation of people exposed to the virus, and aggressive rehydration of infected patients to counter the effects of vomiting, diarrhoea and other symptoms

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