In a response to the ongoing Ebola epidemic, the Israeli government has decided to tighten the screening of people entering Israel from countries most prone to the deadly virus, especially Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone.
The decision stipulates that every individual entering Israel from those countries by air, land, or sea will be screened with a questionnaire.
“The State of Israel is preparing to do everything possible to prevent Ebola patients from entering its territory,” Netanyahu said.
The decision follows a meeting on Sunday between the Prime Minister and officials from the Health Ministry, Transportation Ministry, Interior Ministry, Justice Ministry, the IDF, Israel Police, and airport authority. This was the second high-level meeting on the subject in the past week.
“The State of Israel is prepared to bar, as much as possible, the entry of Ebola patients into its borders, as part of the broader efforts to protect the borders from illegal infiltrators and terror,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
“This is a global epidemic and we are cooperating with other countries, and in addition to protecting our borders, we are taking a series of steps to isolate patients, if they come, and of course to treat them in our healthcare systems.”
“We hope there will be no need for it, but we are prepared for all scenarios,” he added.
Ben Gurion Airport’s Authority has been instructed to place signs to this effect and to hand out flyers that “clearly state” that arriving passengers from affected countries are at risk from the disease.
Israeli and Palestinian officials have also met over the weekend to discuss an action plan against Ebola, according to COGAT, the Defense Ministry unit responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs.“During the meeting, updates were exchanged between the parties, and transfer of information was agreed upon by way of additional meetings to take place in order to further track the issue,” COGAT said.
“There are contacts with the Israeli side regarding this within the context of WHO's instructions on fighting this virus, which is a global task,” Assad Ramlawi of the Palestinian health ministry told AFP.
The US has begun instituting a stepped-up screening program to check the temperatures of travelers arriving from West Africa. It started at New York’s Kennedy International Airport and the procedure will be expanded this week to Newark Liberty, Washington Dulles, Chicago O’Hare and Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta.
More than 3,800 people have died so far from Ebola, mostly in Sierra Leone and Guinea.