REMINISCENT of the Bird Flu
pandemic in 2009, panic over
the Ebola outbreak in West Africa
has gripped the globe with countries
restricting travel to and from Africa as
fears spread quicker than the disease.
Ignorance of African geography has
led to a spate of cancellations for trips
to destinations such as South Africa,
Kenya and Tanzania, which are nowhere
near Ebola affected zones. Countries
are also starting to tighten their border
controls to African citizens – including
South Africans.
The Indonesian government recently
announced it would require a health
certificate from South African travellers
to enter Indonesia, as a result of the
Ebola outbreak. “There is no indication
at this time that Ebola is spreading in
the general community in South Africa.
Nevertheless, to take precautions
to protect the country’s health and
prevent the spread of the virus to other
areas, the Consulate General of the
Republic of Indonesia has advised all
travellers who will be visiting Indonesia
to produce a health certificate,” it said
in a statement.
Passengers without correct
documentation risk being denied entry
into the country when applying for a
visa-on-arrival.
India has announced it will restrict
medical tourism from South Africa over
Ebola. Mumbai’s city hospitals welcome
between 100 and 150 patients from
South Africa a month, according to
a report in the Indian newspaper,
DNA India. Dr Hemlata Arora from
SevenHills in Mumbai was quoted as
saying the hospital was restricting the
number of patients from South Africa.
“The Ebola outbreak has become a
bigger public health problem and it will
have a cascading effect on medical
tourism. My team of doctors has been
put on high alert about treating South
African patients,” she said.
A post on Facebook has gone viral.
Harriet Harriet, a South African expat
living in South Korea, posted a picture
on her page of a notice in the window
of a pub in Itaewon, Seoul, which read:
“We apologise but due to Ebola virus,
we are not accepting Africans at the
moment.” The establishment has since
taken the sign down and posted an
apology, both on its shop front and on
the social networking site.
Korean Air Lines recently suspended
all of its flights to Kenya, a country
that doesn’t have a single Ebola case
and is located over 5 000 km from any
Ebola danger zone.
Gregory Härtl, World Health
Organisation (WHO) spokesperson,
told TNW that these heavyhanded
travel bans and flight
cancellations are against any
advice issued by WHO. “WHO
doesn’t recommend travel or
trade restrictions. They don’t
work. If one closed all airports
and even formal land border
crossings, people can still go
from country to country via the
innumerable informal border
crossings that exist, so all
one would succeed in doing is
disrupting travel and trade.”
Gregory added that it is also
inefficient for countries to
block travellers from entering
the destination. He says
it is much more effective
to perform thorough exit
screenings in countries where
active Ebola transmission is
occurring. “Those who are
exhibiting symptoms and
those who are contacts of
known Ebola victims should
not travel. All others should be
allowed to travel.”
Meanwhile all airlines are on
high alert for any passengers
from any destination
displaying signs of fever or
illness. An Emirates plane
arriving from Dubai was made
to wait on the tarmac at OR
Tambo last week as health
officials were alerted to the
fact that a passenger on
board was displaying signs
of illness.
Commenting on the incident,
Lucille Blumberg, deputy
director of the division of
Public Health Surveillance
and Response at the National
Institute for Communicable
Diseases, told TNW pilots
needed to complete the flight
manifest stating if there were
any ill passengers on board.
“This is examined by a port
health official as soon as
the aircraft lands and if in
order, the passengers can
disembark. If there is an ill
passenger on board a flight,
the port health officials will be
made aware of this and may
board the flight to investigate
and attend to the passenger
before other passengers are
allowed to disembark.”
