88 Indians return from Liberia, screened for Ebola

Eighty eight Indian nationals, who have been brought back from Ebola-hit Liberia, were Tuesday screened for the deadly virus after their arrival at the airports here and one was put in isolation, officials said.

Of the 88 Indians brought back, 71 landed in Mumbai and 17 in New Delhi.

A statement from the health ministry said all were screened and found healthy except for one passenger who had fever and a sore throat.

He has been isolated in a quarantine-cum-isolation facility at the Delhi airport.

The ministry statement said state governments have been requested to ensure monitoring of these passengers.

"State governments have been requested to do rigorous tracking and monitoring of these passengers. The concerned states have been alerted for follow-up of these passengers on daily basis," the ministry said.

"These passengers would be attached to the local health facility and the local authority would ensure that they would follow up these passengers on a day-to-day basis for one month," it said.

"The passengers were also screened at the time of exit from Liberia and none of the evacuees had any symptoms prior to travel," said the medical director of International SOS which brought back the Indians.

International SOS is a group that provides medical assistance, healthcare and security services to organisations with international operations.

"Senior officers of the ministry have been pre-positioned at the Mumbai and Delhi airports to monitor the screening of these passengers from Liberia," the health ministry statement said.

In addition, from the routine flights from affected countries, five passengers with symptoms of fever were quarantined at the quarantine-cum-isolation facility at the Delhi airport. Their samples were being tested at the National Centre for Disease Control.

The ministry said that as per guidelines, the high risk category (those with symptoms) are isolated at the airport, medium risk category (those giving history of contact with an Ebola case) are prioritised for active surveillance, and low risk category (those without symptoms and without any contact history) are informed about helpline numbers to be contacted in case they develop symptoms subsequently.

Meanwhile, five passengers (four doctors and a physiotherapist) who returned from Nigeria and who were admitted to the quarantine facility in Delhi for observation last Friday have tested negative for Ebola in tests done at the National Centre for Disease Control, the ministry statement said.

Three of them have been discharged from the quarantine facility. The other two (a doctor and the physiotherapist) had developed fever and were transferred to the RML Hospital for further treatment. Both of them have now been cured of the fever.