6 Ebola suspects in quarantine

Six people with suspected high- risk Ebola virus were admitted to a quarantine facility at Delhi airport on Monday. According to the Union health ministry, they were among 181 passengers who arrived in India from the affected western African countries.

The ministry said that during the last 24 hours, 181 passengers from the affected countries have arrived at the airports of Mumbai ( 71), Delhi ( 44), Chennai ( 22), Bengaluru ( 26), Kochi ( 4), Thiruvananthapuram ( 7), Hyderabad ( 4) and Kolkata ( 3).

As of today, as many as 816 passengers were being tracked by authorities under Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme ( IDSP). These passengers are those who carried certain risk because of suspicion that they might have come in touch with Ebola victims and are being monitored to ensure that they are attended to in case they develop symptoms of the dangerous disease.

“Reports have been received from state IDSP units of 18 of the 20 states about 80 passengers being monitored. One passenger, who is being tracked and monitored in West Bengal, has confirmed to be having malaria,” said the health ministry.

The control room in the ministry has received 706 calls since its inception on August 9 and only five calls were received in the past 24 hours. Most of the callers have sought information on signs and symptoms of the disease and travel related risk of acquiring the infection. About 15,009 passengers arriving at international airports have been screened since it started on August 10.