The South African government has strengthened surveillance at all points of entry into the country to identify viral haemorrhagic fevers, in particular that of Ebola.
Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe who disclosed this at a press briefing after the weekly cabinet meeting, said government had established “a national response team in case of an outbreak and 11 hospitals were on standby as Ebola treatment centres.”
“We support the efforts by the World Health Organisation in establishing Ebola treatment centres and strengthening capacity for laboratory testing, contact tracing, social mobilisation, safe burials and non-Ebola health care in West Africa,” he said
South Africa, he disclosed, had upped its screening of arriving travellers in an effort to stop Ebola haemorrhagic fever entering the country.
Radebe repeated government’s message that all necessary measures were in place to prevent the spread of the disease, which to date has killed about 5000 people in West Africa.
“Surveillance at all points of entry has been strengthened to identify viral haemorrhagic fevers, in particular Ebola”, he added.