Tel Aviv, June 20 (IANS). The Israeli Health Ministry has kept a person in isolation who returned from a recent trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Investigation is being done due to the possibility of Ebola infection. The ministry issued a statement saying that it may take about 48 hours for the final investigation report to arrive.
According to the statement, the patient is being treated in isolation and the process of tracing those who may have come in contact with this person has been started.
The ministry clarified that it has not yet been confirmed whether the person is actually infected with the Ebola virus or not.
Israeli citizens were appealed not to be afraid and said that Ebola does not spread through air. Its infection is spread by direct contact with a sick person during his symptoms or by coming in contact with his blood, body fluids or secretions.
On Friday itself, the Israeli Health Ministry had said that they had received information about a person who had recently traveled to DRC. After this trip, the possibility of Ebola infection was raised.
According to the ministry statement, the patient has been transferred to Rambam Medical Center in Haifa. This hospital is designated for the treatment of Ebola patients. The ministry had not confirmed Ebola.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday released an update on the status of Ebola infection. According to the organization, as of June 17, 896 cases of Ebola had been confirmed in 31 health regions of the country, while 232 deaths had been recorded. At the same time, 19 cases of infection have been reported in Uganda and two deaths have been confirmed.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed concern over the current situation and appealed to the local administration and the M23 armed group in the eastern region of DRC for a ceasefire. He said that with the ceasefire it will be easier to deliver medicines and essential health services to the affected people.
More than 2 million people live in the eastern region of the DRC. This is where Ebola is spreading rapidly.
The area is linked to an area characterized by trade, family ties and the movement of refugees. People come and go from neighboring countries like Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania and South Sudan.
–IANS
kr/