KAMPALA, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- Uganda has intensified Ebola screening at Entebbe International Airport to prevent the disease from spreading from the neighboring eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Emmanuel Ainebyoona, ministry of health spokesperson, told Xinhua by telephone on Monday that all passengers arriving through Entebbe airport, about 40 km south of the capital, Kampala are screened of Ebola.
Previously, the medical people at the airport have been screening passengers on direct flights from DRC.
"We realized that some passengers from DRC were using connecting flights from other airport on their way to Entebbe," said Ainebyoona.
In September last year, the east African country installed Automated Temperature Scanners at the airport to screen passengers mainly coming from DRC.
Ayinebyoona said screening at the different border entry points between Uganda and DRC is still ongoing.
Uganda is on an Ebola alert as parts of neighboring eastern DRC are facing an outbreak of the deadly hemorrhagic fever.
The highly contagious Ebola virus causes a range of symptoms including fever, vomiting, diarrhea, generalized pain or malaise and in many cases internal and external bleeding, according to the World Health Organization.
Mortality rates of Ebola fever, according to the global health body, are extremely high, with the human case fatality rate ranging from 50 percent to 89 percent, depending on viral subtype.
