Immigration and health authorities in Nakonde are not allowing people to cross the border into Zambia without producing an Ebola screening pass following reports that a Tanzanian had died from the disease.
District community development medical officer, Chola Kaunda said health authorities in Nakonde were on high alert after getting reports that Tanzania had recorded a suspected case of the Ebola virus in Dar es Salaam.
Dr Kaunda said in an interview on Sunday that the immigration officers at the Zambia-Tanzania border were not allowing any person to go through the Zambian border from the Tanzanian town of Tunduma without producing a screening pass.
“If someone is passing outside the official border, the police and the immigration officers are going to arrest that person. The immigration office is not allowing any person without a screening pass to go through the border. If you don’t have that pass, you will not be allowed in Zambia although we have to admit that our border is porous,” he said.
Dr Kaunda said Nakonde had facilities and equipment to care for 100 patients of Ebola in case of an outbreak and that medical staff at the border were prepared for any eventualities.
And traders from both Zambia and Tanzania said they were trading in fear and pleaded with authorities from both countries to put in place measures that would prevent traders from contracting the deadly virus, which has so far claimed over a thousand lives in West Africa.
The World Health Organisation has since declared the Ebola outbreak in West Africa an international health emergency and has authorised the use of an experimental drug to deal with the outbreak.