Canada stepping up Ebola screening

There are several developments tonight when it comes to the ongoing struggle to contain the Ebola outbreak. both the U.S. and Canada are stepping up protocols to check for the deadly virus at airports and borders.

Both countries are enhancing screening methods used to target travellers infected with Ebola. These changes coming more than a week after a man flew from Liberia to Texas and was later diagnosed with the deadly virus.

The U.S. government says ramped up measures will take place at the five airports that handle most flights from the affected West African countries. Incoming passengers will have their temperature taken by staff from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as fill out a questionnaire. Here in Canada, border agents will start to use targeted temperature screens in an effort to prevent those sick with the disease from entering the country.

Dr. Tom Friedan, Director, CDC: “Until this outbreak is over in West Africa, whatever we do can’t get the risk to zero here in the interconnected world that we live today.”

Canada doesn’t get many travellers from the affected West African countries. Only 1.5% of all travellers from Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone actually come here. The World Health Organization says more than eight-thousand people have been infected in this outbreak, and close to four-thousand of them have died.

One of the Ebola victims is Thomas Duncan.

He passed away Wednesday morning at the Dallas hospital where he was being treated. There have been questions surrounding Duncan’s care since he came to Texas from Liberia in late September. He first went to the emergency room when he became sick and despite saying he had been in Liberia, Duncan was sent home only to return two days later when his condition worsened.

Meanwhile, a sheriff’s deputy who was in Duncan’s apartment is now being monitored for Ebola.

They say the deputy is being treated “out of an abundance of caution”. Emergency responders took the deputy to the hospital after an urgent care facility reported a patient “exhibiting signs and symptoms” of Ebola. State health officials say there’s no indication the man had any direct contact with Duncan.