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Indians return from Ebola-hit nations amid tight screening

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Press Trust of India Mumbai/ New Delhi
With Indians fleeing West African nations in the wake of Ebola outbreak, 98 people today arrived from Liberia and Nigeria at Mumbai and Delhi airports and were found free of the symptoms during screening.

While 85 people-- 66 from Liberia and 19 from Nigeria-- landed at Mumbai airport, 13 from Liberia reached Delhi airport amid elaborate precautionary arrangements.

Those coming from Liberia are among the 112 Indians working with M/s Afcons who are being brought back by International SOS (ISOS) Organization on the request of the company.

"66 passengers have already landed in Mumbai and 13 in Delhi (from Liberia). They have been screened and found healthy. No passenger has been isolated," the Health Ministry said.
 

"No case of Ebola Virus Disease has been detected in India," it reiterated.

The passengers arrived in three batches, Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) said in a statement.

The first group of 20 passengers arrived on board South African Airways flight SA 284 at 5 AM from Liberia via Johannesburg and were cleared by the Airport Health Organisation (APHO) team after screening under supervision of health ministry officials.

None of them showed any symptoms of Ebola or had a history of contact with anybody afflicted with the disease, MIAL said.

After disembarkation of all the passengers the aircraft were disinfected by the APHO teams.

This was followed by another batch of 46 Indians from Liberia who arrived by Ethiopian Airline flight ET 610 soon after.

These passengers were also cleared after going through all the precautionary checks and screening, sources said.

19 others who came from Nigeria were also screened by APHO team for EVD and cleared, sources said.

A total of 44,700 Indians are living in different countries affected by Ebola, a deadly virus that has claimed over 1400 lives so far.

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First Published: Aug 26 2014 | 6:50 PM IST

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