Miscellaneous
Peacekeepers sent to 21-day quarantine
UN peacekeepers from Nepal Army and Armed Police Force, who returned from Liberia on Wednesday night, have been put under quarantine over Ebola fears.All 131 security personnel have been kept in isolation units where they will be regularly monitored for Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) for the next 21 days, the incubation period for the EVD to show its symptoms in humans, officials said on Thursday.
After screening them at the Tribhuvan International Airport, the NA soldiers were taken to Tokha and the APF personnel to Kakani for medical surveillance.
According to Additional Inspector General Singha Bahadur Shrestha, spokesperson of the APF, the peacekeeping troops will be kept in isolation units in groups of 10-15 personnel depending on the capacity of the rooms and the rank of the officials.
“They will not be allowed to mix with other troops during the surveillance period, even their families can only contact them over the phone,” said Shrestha. “We have stationed doctors at the quarantine centre to monitor their health and look for EVD symptoms.”
The NA has also made similar preparations for its soldiers who just returned from Ebola-ravaged West African nation.
Another contingent of 129 APF personnel is returning from Liberia on October 29. Shrestha said they, too, will be kept under medical surveillance in Kakani.
He said the isolation wards at the APF hospital have also been readied in case any of officer shows symptoms similar to Ebola’s.
Health experts said that it is extremely important to isolate the individuals returning from the Ebola-hit areas. They said that since these people live in close proximity to each other, if any one of them has got infected by the Ebola virus, the disease can spread easily among the group.
Regarding those who have already returned to Nepal, Dr Baburam Marasini, director of Epidemiology and Disease Control Division, said they will be placed under intense scrutiny.
EVD, which has a fatality rate of 90 percent, is believed to have been first transmitted to humans from wild animals. The virus then started to spread from person to person, most likely via bodily fluids. It is a severe acute viral illness often characterised by a sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat. These symptoms are followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, rashes, failure of the kidneys and liver, and, in some cases, bleeding, according to the WHO.