Health checks have been put in place at the Chennai airport for passengers arriving from the Western African countries identified by the WHO as places where the Ebola virus is spreading.
Passengers reaching the city airport from 10 countries including Sierra Leone, Congo, Guinea, Mali, Sudan, Liberia, Zaire, Chad, Nigeria and West and Central Africa are being screened, police sources said. “The immigration officials look at their travel plan. Even if the persons had stayed in any of these African countries in the last one week or transited through them, the officials turn alert. The health officers stationed at the airport check the persons. Should they have symptoms, the passengers are sent to a government hospital for investigations,” a police officer at the airport said. There are no direct flights to Chennai from these African countries, an official of the Airports Authority of India said. “The passengers should take transits from places including West Asia or South East Asia,” he added.
