The main opposition United Workers Party (UWP) Monday called on the organisers of the World Creole Music Festival (WCMF) to say what steps have been taken to prevent the possibility of the Ebola virus being detected here.
UWP leader, Lennox Linton, told a news conference that at least one band from Nigeria is expected to perform at the October 24-26 festival.
“If this band is going to come here having been in an African country to which they were exposed to the virus, it must be possible at this stage to begin the process of ascertaining whether any of these band members are being exposed to risk factors that would make their arrival on our shores or present some difficulties when they arrive on our shores,” Linton told reporters.
“If the government’s ministry of health is unable to do that, the preferable thing to do would be to deny entry for that one band,” he added.
More than 3,000 people have died in West Africa from the Ebola virus for which there is no known cure. The time between acquiring an infection and showing symptoms and signs varies from two to 21 days.
The virus is highly infectious and is spread by person-to-person transmission through direct contact with bodily fluids or secretions of infected persons including blood, sweat, urine or faeces.
Symptoms include fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat, vomiting, diarrhea, external bleeding and rash.
“We cannot hide from it but we can prepare ourselves as effectively as we can, given the resources available to us and the best practices that have emerged in other countries for screenings, and overall coping,” he said, urging the authorities here to be proactive in their approach to the disease.
“Ebola is not here yet but Chikungunya has been here and when we look back on how we dealt with it, the record will show that we were not sufficiently proactive, nor were we effective in aligning necessary resources and to a proper strategy for coping, which is what we need to do with this Ebola virus.”
Chikunguyna is spread by the aedes egypti mosquito and while it is not fatal, it has contributed to the deaths of several people in the Caribbean.