THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The health authorities in the state have stepped up surveillance for suspected Ebola cases by strengthening the existing screening mechanism with thermal scanners at Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode international airports.
Thermal scanners were installed at the Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode airports on Friday. Steps have been taken to set up the third one at the Kochi airport. This follows a directive from the Union Health Ministry to tighten screening and surveillance measures at the airports as more countries were now reporting suspected Ebola cases.
Health experts say thermal scanners are considered effective for screening. This was evident from Nigeria which had succeeded in containing Ebola spread after using thermal scanners in a big way. The scanners acquired from the Union Health Ministry would function round-the-clock at the airports, screening people queuing up before immigration counters.
These machines scan all passengers walking through the area and the moment someone with a temperature above 98.4 degrees passes, there’s a beep sound
which helps the health teams to put the person under surveillance.
So far, 520 people have been screened for Ebola at the three airports. The majority of the people who were screened were from 3 African countries, Sierra Lone, Liberia and Guinea.
So far, the airports were using non-contact flash thermometers which focus on the forehead of passengers and clicks. This method was used for screening 16 lakh people between 2009 and December 2010 for H1N1.
Earlier, reports in the regional channels about a confirmed case of Ebola in Male created a scare among the health authorities in the state. Since Maldives is not on the list of countries under surveillance and many people from that country arrive here daily, the health authorities contacted the Union Health Ministry to cross-check the information for follow-up action.
Finally, they had a sigh of relief when it was found that the confirmed case was from Mali in West Africa and not Male.
