Ebola scare in St Vincent

Island isolates four Nigerians who arrive without health certificates

KINGSTOWN, St Vincent (CMC) — The four Nigerian students who are being held in isolation after they arrived here without medical certificates proving that they do not have Ebola, have not exhibited symptoms of any illness.

“The students have no symptoms or signs at all, so they are not ill, it’s not for us to do tests. It is simply a matter of you have a protocol of how we are going to deal with persons coming from Nigeria,” Chief Medical Officer Dr Simone Keizer-Beache told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) yesterday.

The students, who are enrolled at All Saints University and the American University of St Vincent, arrived here over a three-week period, Keizer-Beache said.

News broke on Wednesday that the students were being “quarantined” until they are repatriated or it is proven that they are not infected with the virus.

She further assured Vincentians that there were no suspected or confirmed cases of Ebola in the country.

“Apparently, there was something out there that we had persons with Ebola. Just to reinforce that that is not so at all. And to this point, none of those four students have exhibited any sign of any illness at all. We are, as always, working as best to ensure the safety and health of everybody in St Vincent and Grenadines,” the senior health official said.

The Ministry of Health announced on September 1 that in order to prevent the entry of Ebola into the country, persons travelling from Guinea, Sierra Leone or Liberia or those who have visited any of the aforementioned countries during a 28-day period would not be allowed entry.

Persons travelling from Nigeria or any other West African country or those who visited any of the aforementioned countries during a 28-day period must present upon entry at any port of entry a negative blood test result for Ebola done not more than seven days prior to leaving their home country, in order to be allowed entry, the ministry said.

Keizer-Beache said the medical schools were informed that persons from the countries identified must have a medical certificate and a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test done to be allowed entry.

“These individuals came into the country with insufficient documentation as we required. And because of that, we decided to keep them quarantined — their entry into the system,” Keizer-Beache told CMC, noting that Ebola is not contagious unless a person develops symptoms.

“… So, the idea of quarantine, in its strict sense, is not what’s going on now,” she further said, adding, “That would be if we have somebody who is ill.”

“Nobody is ill, but because of the incubation period, persons are being observed and the ministry of Health is doing regular checks on them, in terms of assessing ‘Are you well?’ fever, any sort of symptoms. That is what we are looking for,” she said, pointing out that checks are done daily.

Keizer-Beache said the students are being housed “safely”, adding, “I would say that, because I don’t want to go saying exactly where because persons might get anxious — just anxiety about what is happening.”

She said the Ministry of Health was in contact with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and noted that the immigration protocols were implemented through the Ministry of National Security.

“So, the next step, and this is what we are working on now, is to put the message out to all nations, so that if you board a plane in Nigeria, the boarding personnel know that if at any point in your journey you are going to be passing through St Vincent and the Grenadines, if you don’t have certain documents, you are not going to be allowed to pass here,” the senior health official said.

“So we are working with the airlines on that and we are working with foreign affairs on that; we are also in the process of putting it on our website, we have asked all the schools, we have spoken with LIAT and asked them to use their avenues of dissemination of information so that person know ahead of leaving and even in terms of purchasing their ticket that if they are going to transit St Vincent and the Grenadines, this is what is required,” Keizer-Beache said.