LA PAZ, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- Health authorities in Bolivia's eastern department of Santa Cruz Friday presented a plan to detect and contain any case of Ebola at airports throughout the country.
The Departmental Health Service (Sedes) said the plan would detect and respond to the existence of any transmittable disease, such as Ebola, as a preventive measure, since no case has been reported in the South American country.
Robert Torrez, Sedes' head of epidemiology, explained the plan to airport officials.
"We have a system to detect cases at airports, aboard airplanes, via the crew, which can detect a case, immediately inform the airport medical unit, which then notifies Sedes so the patient is transferred to a hospital unit," he said, adding that the disease control unit operates 24 hours a day.
The official said that over the next few days, emergency drills will be held at the international airports of Cochabamba, a city in central Bolivia, and El Alto, the second largest city in the department of La Paz.
The World Health Organization's latest update on the outbreak of Ebola says 1,350 people have died in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leon.
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