AIR FRANCE: 183 passengers and other crew are quarantined in Madrid, Spain.
It’s official: today the Ebola virus just went global in earnest, or the frenzy went viral – we’re not sure just yet…
Air France has quarantined a passenger airliner and its 183 passengers at Madrid’s Barajas Airport, following 4 suspected cases there, including 1 passenger on board that flight. Apparently, a Spanish missionary, who returned from Liberia was in contact with Ebola patients, before being rushed to Madrid’s Carlos III Hospital.
Over in Moscow, health officials are monitoring 2 African students suspected of exhibiting Ebola symptoms. Russian health officials seem to airing on the side of caution, while simultaneously running quarantine training with drills for medical workers. RT reports:
“Two African students were taken to hospital in the Russian town of Oryol, some 350 km southwest of Moscow. They arrived in the capital’s airport and traveled to the town by bus. The Russian health watchdog later said it was part of drills.”
“The Rospotrebnadzor watchdog has confirmed that the two Guinea-Bissau citizens were not suspected of Ebola symptoms – it was a pre-planned measure aimed at diagnostics of African students, returning back to the town from holidays. The two were reported to have returned withtemperatures of 37.3 C. They were hospitalized and examined according to the procedures required when Ebola is suspected.”
Back in April 2014, Air France quarantined 187 and 11 crew in Paris following an Ebola panic. The flight from Guinea’s capital of Conakry landed at Paris’s Charles De Gaulle airport. French health workers checked fever on all travelers – after a dirty toilet sparked panic that passengers could be infected with Ebola. In the tests turned out negative.
In the US, public confidence was dented when it was revealed that the CDC (Center for Disease Control) gave the ‘OK to Fly’ to Dallas nurse Amber Vinson – the same nurse who treated the first US Ebola fatality, Thomas Duncan. CDC spokesman Tom Frieden may be forced to resign as a result. Frontier Airlines is also conducting a PR damage-control exercise as a result of the CDC gaff.
As 21WIRE reported earlier today – Ebola fears triggered a stock market dive including major airlines stocks. Both government agencies and Airline execs are under pressure from customers while the media fuel paranoia. Everyone is demanding answers about what government and airlines are doing to ensure public safety – scrubbing down aircraft with ‘hazmat’ protocols, shutting down routes to West Africa – to protect against the deadly virus.
The Ebola epicenter in West Africa currently has 8,997 suspected cases, with the majority fromLiberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea. It’s believed the incubation period for the deadly Ebola virus is said to be anywhere from two to 21 days.
