Egypt on high alert to prevent entry of Marburg virus into country

Egypt on high alert to prevent entry of Marburg virus into country

The Egyptian Health and Population Ministry has issued an order that anyone coming from Equatorial Guinea must be quarantined before allowed to enter the country following an outbreak of the Marburg virus.

Nine people died have died in the latest outbreak in eastern Equatorial Guinea, Central Africa, where authorities imposed a quarantine in one of the provinces to contain the epidemic.

The ministry said that the incubation period for the disease ranges between two and 21 days, and that the virus is transmitted through contact with the patient’s blood or other body fluids that contain the virus.

A circular from the Egyptian Health and Population Ministry stated that quarantine departments must notify passports authorities that passengers coming from Equatorial Guinea must be quarantined, before being allowed to enter the country.

Quarantine measures

The circular indicated that health measures for quarantine are to sort all passengers and crews of means of transport coming from the Equatorial Guinea, on all direct or indirect flights included in the operating schedules, special flights or cargo flights.

It added that this is being done by the quarantine crews at the entry points through thermographic cameras, thermal gates, or remote temperature measuring devices, without interfering with the movement of passengers.

The preventive medicine