Measures limited to 3 countries

The authorities yesterday decided to screen passengers coming only from the three Ebola-affected African countries at all international airports.
The decision came at the national technical committee meeting on Ebola a day after Nigeria was declared free of the deadly virus.
“We'll only screen passengers from those countries from where there is a chance of transmission of Ebola virus,” said Dr Be-Nazir Ahmed, member secretary of the inter-ministerial monitoring committee dealing with Ebola issues.
Now the passengers whose journeys have begun or included a transit in one of the African countries -- Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone -- will be screened, meaning their temperatures will be recorded and they will be asked if they have any symptom of having been infected by the virus.   
The deadly virus since its outbreak has killed 4,546 people across the West African countries and travellers from the region have infected two people in Texas and one in Madrid.
“Considering the sufferings of people arriving at the airports, we decided to check the temperature of passengers coming from the three affected countries,” said Dr Mushtuq Husain, principal scientific officer of the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), who is a member of the technical committee as well.  
The technical committee at yesterday's meeting at the Directorate General of Health Services reviewed the progress in the implementation of the decisions -- formulation of Standard Operating Procedures and guidelines and providing the health staff with enough personal protection equipment -- made in its last meeting 15 days back.
There was no arrangement at the land ports to address concerns of Ebola, but the immigration department has recently arranged a room to set up Ebola health desk at all land ports, Be-Nazir said.  
The meeting also decided to include the country director of Atlanta-based Centre for Disease Control and the infectious disease expert of USAID in the national technical committee formed to address Ebola concerns, he added.
Meanwhile, World Bank Country Director Johannes Zutt said that like various countries Bangladesh was not out of the Ebola risk but was well equipped to contain it.
“As long as the first case is identified quickly and isolated it [Ebola] could be contained,” Zutt said at a programme at the WB Dhaka office.
Bangladesh has shown a lot of capacity in the health sector. “I don't think at this point there is a high risk [of Ebola] in Bangladesh,” the WB country director said.
BAPA SEMINAR
Meantime, former vice-chancellor of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Prof Nazrul Islam said, “The measures taken by the government at the international airports, waterways, and roads will be effective only if the surveillance is completely foolproof.”
Addressing a seminar organised by Bangladesh Paribesh Andolon (Bapa), he also stressed the need for training as many health service providers as possible “to prevent a lethal outbreak in case an infected person enters the country.
Addressing the event, Bapa member secretary Jahedur Rahman demanded formation of trained medical teams at district level hospitals to contain the spread of the virus if any infected person enters the country.
He also urged the authorities to examine imported consumer products that can carry the virus.
Bapa organised a seminar at Muktibhaban in the capital to create awareness among people about the deadly virus.