Mozambique
on Saturday set up disease checkpoints along its border with Malawi as a
precaution against any spreading of a deadly Ebola outbreak, a senior health
ministry official said.More than 1 800 people have died in eastern Democratic
Republic of Congo since Ebola broke out there in August last year. Mozambique
has yet to report an Ebola case, but DRC’s regional neighbours have been on
high alert while the World Health Organisation (WHO) has elevated the crisis to
a global health emergency.Checkpoints began operating in the Milage and
Morrumbala districts in the Zambezia province and controls are expected to widen
to other provinces of Mozambique that share borders with Malawi, according to a
ministry of health official.Rwandan officials closed their border with DR Congo
after the third case of Ebola was detected in the Congolese city of Goma, near
the border with Rwanda.
“Setting
up Ebola checkpoints is a guideline given by decision of the Ministry of Health
and World Health Organisation to prevent the spread of the disease to other
countries” Zambezia province health director, Hidayate Kassim told reporters.“The
checkpoints aim to track all people entering Mozambique having fevers or if
they have had contact with anyone who has been in Congo,” he said.“Depending on
this control we will determine whether there is a risk or not in our province,”
Kassim added. Authorities
characterised the screening of people entering Mozambique as a preventive
control measure to prepare, prevent, detect and treat any Ebola case that could
develop in the country.The deadliest epidemic of Ebola broke out in West Africa
in December 2013 and lasted more than two years, killing more than 11 300 of
the 29 000 infected people recorded.The current one-year old epidemic has left
1 823 dead, according to the DR Congo health ministry, making it second only to
the 2013-2016 crisis.Rwanda on Thursday shuttered its border with DRC after a
third case of the deadly virus was detected in the border city of Goma.
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