Nigeria- like Ebola tracking system in place at airports

The scanner will be able to detect if people at the airport have a fever

In a bid to pre- empt spreading of deadly Ebola virus, all international airports and sea ports will soon be fitted with thermal scanners to have better check over deadly Ebola virus.

A day after the World Health Organisation ( WHO) declared Nigeria “Ebola free”, the government on Tuesday said that India is in process to put in place same surveillance- tracking systems for checking the dreaded Ebola Virus Disease ( EVD) as Nigeria.

Union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said, that the government has removed all stops to constantly upgrade equipment and retrain staff and are in the process of further strengthening them,” he said.

Taking a stock of the situ- ation, the health minister met with representatives of other ministries including ministry of defence, civil aviation, home, shipping, external affairs, some state governments, the Indian Army, Navy and National Disaster Management Authority ( NDMA), Dr Vardhan said that all international airports and sea ports will be fitted out with thermal scanners and other EVD detection equipment for 24x7 deployment.

The officials of WHO and United States Centre for Disease Control ( USCDC) also attended the meeting on Tuesday.

While, the thermal scanners are widely prevalent in most of the 15 major air- ports, a further lot of scanners will be purchased and installed over the next few days at the the minister 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 Virus Disease. Our officials have already used thermal scanners when Sars broke out in southeast Asia some years back,” added the health minister.

He pointed out that a guidance paper produced by the USCDC has outlined all the facets of operating this hardware. “There is need for constant maintenance, frequent calibration and carrying out training of people using them,” he said.