New Delhi, Aug 7: A total of 44,700 Indians are living in different countries affected by Ebola, a deadly virus that has claimed 932 lives so far. Of this, 300 are CRPF personnel deployed in Liberia for UN peacekeeping operations. Union health minister Harsh Vardhan said this on Wednesday in a written statement to Parliament.
Vardhan said 500 Indians were in the Republic of Guinea, 3,000 in Liberia and 1,200 in Sierra Leone, from where the maximum cases have been reported. Nigeria has a much larger presence of nearly 40,000 Indian citizens. "If the situation worsens, there is a possibility of these people returning home," Vardhan said.
To prevent the disease from spreading to India, the government is taking several precautionary measures — like obtaining details of travellers originating from or transiting through affected countries and tracking them after their arrival, up to their final destination.
Health ministry sources said director general of health services (DGHS) Jagdish Prasad held two meetings on August 1 and 2 to review the situation. Advisories have been issued to the state disease surveillance units to be on alert.
On Tuesday, the health minister held another meeting that was attended by immigration, external affairs ministry, civil aviation, armed forces and World Health Organization (WHO) officials to assess the threat perception to India.
"With many of their personnel deployed in Ebola-hit countries, the armed forces would be suitably advising their staff for appropriate precautions. Soldiers returning to India on leave or otherwise would be tracked and monitored for symptoms," said a senior health ministry official. He said there was no confirmation of any Indian being infected with the virus yet. As a precaution, the government has asked people to defer non-essential travel to that region.
WHO has reported 1,603 cases and 887 deaths till August 4 in four countries — Guinea (485 and 358), Liberia (468 and 255), Sierra Leone (646 and 273) and Nigeria (4 and 1).
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