There is no Ebola in Zimbabwe, says govt official

HEALTH and Child Welfare Minister David Parirenyatwa yesterday revealed that the country was free from the Ebola epidemic sweeping across West African countries.

Parirenyatwa revealed this in Bulawayo as the local authority moved to allay any fears of an outbreak after its Health Services Department revealed that it was monitoring 30 people who recently travelled to West Africa to ensure they were free of the disease.

 "There's no Ebola in the country. At least not yet, and I pray we never have it. We've, however, introduced a screening process at the country's borders and all ports of entry to make sure that we do not record a single Ebola case in the country," the minister was quoted by a Bulawayo daily paper today.

"We identify people from countries affected by Ebola such as Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia and we record them and make follow ups so that we're sure they don't have the disease."

The travellers, Parirenyatwa added, are instructed to visit their nearest clinic every day for 21 days and go through some check-ups. He said symptoms of Ebola are almost similar to those of malaria and meningitis.

Bulawayo's Health Services Director Zanele Hwalima yesterday said all the 30 people they had been monitoring in recent weeks, as revealed by Chronicle yesterday, had tested negative for the disease after being screened for three weeks.

The incubation period for Ebola is 21 days and it was therefore necessary to check on everyone who has entered the country from any country that has been affected by Ebola. The 30 visited countries including Sierra Leone, Liberia, Senegal, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria which are all affected by the disease.

The assessment involves monitoring individuals over three weeks. Symptoms of the highly contagious virus include high fever, severe headache, vomiting and diarrhoea.

The latest Ebola outbreak, first detected in March in Guinea, has killed more than 3,300 people, with the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention projecting that there could be up to 1,4 million cases of Ebola by January if the epidemic does not slow down.