State moves to tackle Ebola

At both Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose airport in Kolkata and Bagdogra airport at north Bengal, isolation units have been set up to quarantine anybody with symptoms of the disease. The authorities have specially been told to keep a watch on passengers coming from any of the four countries of Africa—Nigeria, Liberia, Guinea and Laos—which are severely affected by the menace.

“If a person deboards the plane with fever and other related symptoms he or she will be immediately be taken care of. But sometimes a person may carry the virus with no manifestation. Usually it takes 4-14 days for symptoms to appear. So we have told the airports to keep a tab on the passenger list. The names, addresses and phone numbers of passengers, particularly those coming from the four countries in Africa, are being kept and we will keep on checking them in the coming days. The passengers too are being told to report any kind of sickness occurring in the next two weeks,” Satpathy further said.

The state Congress on Sunday demanded that the state government set up a helpline for Ebola. “The central government has done it and the state government should immediately follow suit,” Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, PCC president, said on Sunday.

Meanwhile, three more persons—two at north Bengal and one at Dum Dum Municipal Hospital in Kolkata—died of encephalitis.”The menace is now very much under control,” Satpathy said.