Health checks at Ercan & Istanbul??

[ozankoys]

We seem to have a considerable number of African people here who presumably go back from time to time. Wonder if there are any health checks in place at the airports as I suspect that TRNC would be ill equipped to deal with an Ebola outbreak - does anyone know if we have isolation facilities?

[snd1966]

report in Cyprus Today - Do not panic!

[judyvin]

I have been wondering the exact same think Ozankoys and there are a large number of students from Nigeria. There was a brief mention of Ebola on Bayrak Radio the other morning and they just wanted to allay any fears because there is no sign of the disease here!

[ozankoys]

Oh well that's all right then! Do not often get Cyprus Today.

[Deniz1]

Ban anyone from the affected countries. One way to stop it, screening at the airport is too late as they have been in the aircraft for some hours and everyone breathes recyled air there. IMO

[ozankoys]

Yes that is a brilliant idea Deniz!

[waddo]

What a great idea! So anyone from the effected countries that come here via a different country are OK then? Or if they left their own country 5 years ago they still get banned? How would you separate the infected people who happened to pass through an infected country but did not come from it? Istanbul Atatürk is a melting pot of races, how will you pass through there safely without breathing, eating or touching anything that has been touched by someone else first.

Think bigger picture people, if Ebola really gets a grip it will go pandemic before Cyprus Today can report it!

Guess if you fly via Larnaca you must be safe because UK baggage handlers would never pass on any bus to you case with their clean and careful hands. Keep your eye on the world news or the WHO website and be thankful you live on a small Island.

[Deniz1]

Look in their passports if they came directly from Africa within a couple of days then sorry no entry. I was thinking mainly of the students who come here.

[snd1966]

Has anyone confirmed whether students have to have the same tests as people who want temporary residency under the category of residence Visitor as they could test for Ebola, admittedly too late once they arrive. Maybe all visitors should have a health cert before travelling , then maybe people who never leave the Island would not have to have yearly tests for their work permit stamp or residency stamp.
wow that would kill the tourist and student trade!

[Owl Lady]

Correct me if I am wrong, I thought it was only caught by contact not by breathing?

[waddo]

From the WHO website - "Ebola then spreads in the community through human-to-human transmission, with infection resulting from direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people, and indirect contact with environments contaminated with such fluids. Burial ceremonies in which mourners have direct contact with the body of the deceased person can also play a role in the transmission of Ebola. Men who have recovered from the disease can still transmit the virus through their semen for up to 7 weeks after recovery from illness.". From Encyclopaedia Britanica - "mucous membrane, mucoid cell: epithelial mucous surface cells [Credit: Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS)] membrane lining bodily cavities and canals that lead to the outside, chiefly the respiratory, digestive, and urogenital tracts.". So you can catch it from a sneeze as well and that is through breathing! Easier to catch through contact but still a very, very scary thing!!

[Owl Lady]

Thanks Waddo, so I see the connection re plane journeys!!

[Philoz]

It makes the medical rigmarole that we have to go through for residency a bit of a joke really doesn't it?

[waddo]

Well its a start at least Phil, do they do a similar thing in UK I wonder?

[BLUE BUTTERFLY]

Unless the law has changed recently, apparently, people coming to TRNC as students are exempt from blood tests.

[Carbotec]

Ban anyone from the affected countries. One way to stop it, screening at the airport is too late as they have been in the aircraft for some hours and everyone breathes recyled air there. IMO

I was led to believe that the Ebola virus is not airborne therefore need to be in contact with affected person. As far as banning people is concerned, they could just fly from an unaffected country.