As the Ebola virus death toll rises towards 1000 fatalities in West Africa, South Africans are told not to fear – thermal scanners are set up at the OR Tambo and Lanseria airports to protect us.
But checking for fever at only two airports seem like a rather feeble attempt to safeguard the country against a deadly epidemic with a mortality rate of up to 90% and no cure.
Especially so since South Africa has a long list of other gateways to and from Africa, namely 23 ports and harbours, two other international airports and six border gates facing our northern neighbours.
It’s close to home, and numerous Zululanders work and commute between Richards Bay, Durban and West African countries.
Making matters worse, the Department of Health recently admitted only a few selected central hospitals in the country have the state-of-the-art infection control equipment to isolate and control the disease once people contract the virus.
So, as the media repeatedly asks the big question, ‘are we prepared for an Ebola outbreak?’, it appears we are armed with spaghetti sticks to fight off a death trap.
This despite the deafening alarm bell of three individuals already tested for Ebola in South Africa in the last three months.
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) still reckons ‘the chances of an outbreak are very small’.
‘You need direct contact with an individual infected. You cannot get it from the air,’ said a confident Lucille Blumberg (NICD Deputy Director).
Much like HIV/Aids one would imagine.
Meanwhile, the rest of the world is reacting, like Sierra Leone whose President has declared a public health emergency, putting up quarantine centres and deploying 750 soldiers to ensure those infected remain isolated.
Liberia has shut its borders, closed schools and banned public meetings.
And on a whole different continent, the United States has quarantined officers at 20 airports while its Centre for Disease Control (CDC) contemplates raising a ‘Level 3’ alert, discouraging Americans from travelling to West African countries.
Even the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned the South African government that given the frequency of travel between South Africa and West Africa, there is a risk of Ebola crossing our borders.
It is time government takes its leadership role seriously and stop the worst ever Ebola outbreak from breaking in.
Delay is the deadliest form of denial.
