SA ports on red alert for Ebola

THE National Ports Authority (NPA) had taken steps to ensure the Ebola virus did not enter South Africa through one of its main harbours, Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown revealed yesterday. “As of September 23, all vessels [from certain countries] are required to be stringently screened, by port health officials, at anchor, prior to the vessels entering into any South African commercial port,” she said in a written reply to a parliamentary question. The ports authority is a division of Transnet, and manages all eight of South Africa’s main commercial ports. Brown said the west African states of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone had been rated as high risk for exposure to the virus, while Nigeria, Kenya and Ethiopia had been rated medium risk. – Sapa