The Ivorian health authorities have placed six returnees from Liberia and Guinea under strict surveillance as part of measures to prevent the spread of Ebola Virus Disease.
This is contained in a statement by Dr Eugene Koffi, a Director in the Ivorian Health Ministry, and made available to newsmen in Abidjan on Tuesday.
The statement quoted Kofi as saying that the six Ivorians, including five men and a woman, were kept in a centre in Tiassale district, 120km south of Abidjan.
According to the statement, the decision to place the six Ivorians under surveillance followed the fact that they recently left Liberia and Guinea, two countries heavily hit by Ebola.
“Even if they have no signs at the moment, these people including four Liberian nationals will be kept in the centres as a precaution.
“A team of trained medical officials are on ground to regularly check their temperatures; their family members are also regularly informed about their health status,’’ it quoted Kofi as saying.
It would be recalled that Cote d’Ivoire had closed land borders with its neighbours affected by Ebola, including Guinea and Liberia, and suspended air flights to and from the affected countries.
The country had also banned the sale and consumption of bush meat within its territory as part of measures to avoid the spread of the disease.
Ebola fever, a contagious disease whose cure has yet to be discovered appeared for the first time in a northern town of former Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1976.
Latest World Health Organisation (WHO) reports show that Ebola, which resurfaced in Guinea in March 2014, had killed no fewer than 3,000 persons mainly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.