France to start Ebola checks at airports Saturday
France is to start Ebola checks at airports on travellers arriving from Guinea, one of the three west African countries worst hit by the virus.
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"Health checks at the airports on travellers arriving from Conakry will start Saturday morning," French Health Minister Marisol Touraine announced on Thursday.
The announcement was made after President François Hollande held talks on
Wednesday with US President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister David Cameron and Italian premier Matteo Renzi.
"There will be medical teams at [Paris's] Roissy airport to take passengers' temperatures [...] before they enter the airport as from tomorrow," Touraine told LCI television.
"But the first precaution will be to make sure that someone with fever doesn't board at Conakry," she added, explaining that more Red Cross medical teams will be sent to help the Guinean authorities.
Questionnaires distributed on board the airplane to ensure passengers can be traced later on if necessary.
Few air links are maintained between Europe and the Ebola-hit nations.
Air France, which suspended flights to Sierra Leone last month, is the only carrier to maintain daily flight between Paris and Conakry, while Belgium's Brussels Airlines and Royal Air Maroc are also flying to affected countries.
British Airways, Emirates, Air Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria’s Arik Air, Togo’s ASKY Airlines and Kenya Airways have suspended their flights to the Ebola-hit countries since August.
Ebola has claimed about 4,500 lives since the start of the year, with 9,000 recorded cases in seven countries, mainly Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
A second health worker in Texas was tested positive on Wednesday after caring an Ebola patient who died last week in Dallas.
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