Algeria freezes commercial transactions with West African Ebola-affected countries

The Algerian authorities have decided to freeze all trade transactions with those West African countries now wracked by the Ebola epidemic and have taken drastic preventive measures notably along the southern border with Mali in a bid to stem any infiltration through travelers of the contagious disease.

Health care systems have been established at the nation’s borders including airports and border-crossings. Any person diagnosed with fever, severe muscle pain, diarrhea, rash or bleeding will be immediately sent to a reference service. Prospective patients will then be quarantined and will undergo sampling and testing. 

As the Ebola virus is already highly present in West African countries, Algeria’s authorities have decided to take additional security measures with additional funds to be spent on special protection for medical staff caring for Ebola patients.

“Even if we have not yet faced cases of this dangerous virus in our country, we must remain vigilant as the movement of people remains uncontrollable. Vigilance is the best way to deal with the Ebola virus which is taking dangerous proportions worldwide,” a senior health official Dr Samia Hamadi said during a forum devoted to this burning issue held Tuesday at the DGSN Higher School premises in upper Algiers.

Algeria denied earlier this week groundless reports of so-called detection of Ebola virus cases in its territory through the voice of the Minister of Health, population and hospital reform, Abdelmalek Boudiaf, who affirmed that “no cases of Ebola were recorded in Tamanrasset province, 2,000 km south of Algiers, or in any other region nationwide.

Recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that Algeria was among the North African nations that might be threatened by the spread of Ebola virus, following some cases recorded in neighbouring Mali and Mauritania.

Earlier in August, the Algerian health authorities said large scale preventive measures had been taken on the southern border of the country to ward off the spread of the deadly Ebola virus.

These measures include mobilizing medical staff in border regions.

Each of these medical teams comprises four doctors tasked with the mission of providing healthcare coverage in the border areas. The authorities have also established a sanitary control post at the airport of Tamanrasset.

Algeria has hopefully detected no case of Ebola so far, according to medical sources, adding that the prevention operation also includes raising awareness among residents in border areas and travelers to African countries on the risks of this contagious disease.

Some 4,500 people have been killed by the Ebola virus disease in West Africa, according to WHO.

The Ebola virus, which is transmitted between humans through bodily fluids, hit Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea, and has spread, in recent months, to other neighbouring countries.