Passengers walk past a heat scan machine at Jomo Kenyatta airport in Nairobi, Kenya, on May 13, 2018. Kenya's Health Ministry said it has intensified border surveillance to prevent an outbreak of Ebola disease in the country. (Xinhua/Lv Shuai)
NAIROBI, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's Health Ministry said on Friday that it has intensified border surveillance to prevent an outbreak of Ebola disease in the country.
Sicily Kariuki, the Cabinet Secretary for Health, said the government has deployed 100 medical experts at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), the main port of entry to screen and test travelers from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and a further 160 on standby for any eventuality.
"We have also deployed medical personnel to conduct screening along the Busia and Malaba border posts with Uganda," Kariuki said at a joint news conference in Nairobi.
The move by the East Africa nation follows an Ebola outbreak in the DRC last week.
Kariuki revealed that all travelers from DRC are being screened at an emergency clinic that has been set up at the airport.
"We are taking a precaution against any eventually and Kenyans should not worry much," she said.
Kariuki also announced the formation of a National Health Emergencies Council that will permanently engage in monitoring and prevention of the spread of the deadly diseases in the country.
Najib Balala, Tourism and Wildlife Cabinet Secretary said the outbreak has not affected tourists from West Africa from visiting Kenya.
Balala revealed that the highest number of tourists from the region come from Nigeria, a country that is not affected by the outbreak. He said that Kenya mainly receive traders from DRC, with a pocket of tourists.
"We have a functioning clinic and an ambulance at the airport ready for any emergency," Balala said, noting that the government
The DRC government last week announced an outbreak of the Ebola fever in Bikoro in the North Western Equatorial region.
The new Ebola cases were identified on May 1 in a remote area of the country's north-west, near the town of Bikoro, near the Congo River.
