Morocco steps up guard after Ebola outbreak in Guinea

Morocco announced extra health screening measures Tuesday at entry points to the country, in particular at Casablanca airport, after the outbreak of the deadly Ebola epidemic in Guinea. “As a precautionary measure,” the health ministry has stepped up “sanitary checks at entry points … especially at Casablanca airport,” a key transportation hub for north and west Africa, the official MAP news agency reported. Travellers from countries with recorded cases of Ebola will undergo medical tests for signs of haemorrhagic fever, the ministry said in a statement carried by MAP. It said no cases have been recorded in Morocco, whose airport in Casablanca has daily links with Conakry, capital of Guinea. Medical aid organisation Doctors Without Borders said Monday that the Ebola outbreak suspected of killing at least 78 people in Guinea since January was an “unprecedented epidemic” that had spread across the west African nation. Guinean health authorities have recorded 122 suspected cases and 78 deaths. The World Health Organisation has said it is not recommending travel or trade restrictions to Guinea, to Liberia, which has also confirmed cases of Ebola, or to Sierra Leone, which has reported suspected cases, based on the information currently available. But Senegal has closed border crossings to Guinea “until further notice”. The tropical virus leads to haemorrhagic fever, causing muscle pain, weakness, vomiting, diarrhoea and, in severe cases, organ failure and unstoppable bleeding.