Centre puts seven more airports on Ebola alert

Seven more airports are on the Centre's radar as the health ministry prepares to fight the Ebola virus. Sources said the airports included those of Vizag, Varanasi, Gaya, Nagpur and Bagdogra.

The move comes days after traces of the virus were found in the semen samples of an India national at the New Delhi airport. The 26-year-old man is in isolation.

Already, 18 airports have been put on red alert. Health Minister J P Nadda also chaired an inter-ministerial meeting to review the status of preparedness.

"That person (infected with Ebola virus) has been kept in isolation, and the situation is being closely monitored. We are cautious and there is no need to panic. The situation is under control," Nadda had said on Tuesday.

A team has also been sent to inspect all airports' quarantine facilities. It will report in a week.

The person who is currently in an isolation facility of Delhi airport, is cured of Ebola but he will be kept isolation for the 21­day quarantine period. The 26-year-old man was treated for Ebola in Liberia and carried a certificate from authorities there that he was cured.

Owing to tests of his semen samples coming out positive, authorities had to put him under isolation, the health ministry had pointed out.

Since the outbreak of Ebola, more than 5,000 people have died due to the virus, mostly in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, according to the data from the World Health Organization.