There was an incident a few days back when an Uganda woman suspected of Ebola was isolated and tested at Bengaluru when thankfully she tested negative for the virus. While one needs to commend the authorities for their alertness, it is felt that the SOP in such matters needs to be tightened in the wake of the COVID crisis which enveloped us some years ago. In the context of Ebola all flights to the affected countries in Africa like Congo, Uganda and neighbouring countries should be stopped to prevent the virus from travelling to India. Not only that all travellers particularly Africans from the part of the continent that has got affected transiting through the affected countries since the Ebola virus emerged should be prevented from emplaning in India. If any person slips through and arrives in India they should be immediately quarantined. Such measures should also be instituted for the other infectious viruses like the Hantavirus and others so that we can avoid a national crisis as we saw during COVID.
