A New York City airport has become the first in the United States to begin a stepped-up screening program for possible Ebola infection.
New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport Saturday began screening travelers coming from the West African countries devastated by the virus.
Agents are screening incoming travelers for fever and other symptoms using questionnaires and infrared, non-contact thermometers. Coast Guard medical personnel initially are handling the screening.
Over the next week, screenings will begin at airports in Newark, New Jersey; Washington, D.C.; Chicago, Illinois; and Atlanta, Georgia. Together, the five airports receive an estimated 90 percent of passengers entering the United States from the worst-affected African countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Death toll rising
On Friday, the World Health Organization said the death toll from the Ebola outbreak has risen to more than 4,000 people.
The U.N. agency said nearly 8,400 cases of the disease have been recorded in seven countries, with 4,033 people dying from the epidemic.
It said all but nine of the deaths were in the three Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. Eight people died in Nigeria and one patient died in the United States.
The data also includes one Ebola case each in Spain and Senegal, but no deaths in those countries.
A separate Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has killed 43 people.
International aid falls short
Also Friday, the United Nations said it had received only a quarter of its appeal of $1 billion to respond to the outbreak.
The virus that causes Ebola spreads only through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person who is showing symptoms.
Saturday, October 11, 2014
US Starts Ebola Screenings at JFK Airport
A New York City airport has become the first in the United States to begin a stepped-up screening program for possible Ebola infection.
New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport Saturday began screening travelers coming from the West African countries devastated by the virus.
Agents are screening incoming travelers for fever and other symptoms using questionnaires and infrared, non-contact thermometers. Coast Guard medical personnel initially are handling the screening.
Over the next week, screenings will begin at airports in Newark, New Jersey; Washington, D.C.; Chicago, Illinois; and Atlanta, Georgia. Together, the five airports receive an estimated 90 percent of passengers entering the United States from the worst-affected African countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Death toll rising
On Friday, the World Health Organization said the death toll from the Ebola outbreak has risen to more than 4,000 people.
The U.N. agency said nearly 8,400 cases of the disease have been recorded in seven countries, with 4,033 people dying from the epidemic.
It said all but nine of the deaths were in the three Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. Eight people died in Nigeria and one patient died in the United States.
The data also includes one Ebola case each in Spain and Senegal, but no deaths in those countries.
A separate Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has killed 43 people.
International aid falls short
Also Friday, the United Nations said it had received only a quarter of its appeal of $1 billion to respond to the outbreak.
The virus that causes Ebola spreads only through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person who is showing symptoms.
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