Italy urges EU border coordination over Ebola outbreak

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has asked the EU for stricter border controls because of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, the government said Friday.

The letter sent from Meloni to EU leaders called for border management to be put on the agenda for the upcoming council meeting held from June 18-19.

“The aim is to call for, with full respect for national prerogatives in the field of health protection, enhanced coordination of border surveillance through common rules for managing direct and indirect arrivals from the affected areas,” the government wrote in a statement.

Italy’s far-right leader Meloni requested a videoconference of EU health ministers “as early as next week”.

Since an Ebola outbreak was declared in DRC on May 15, the World Health Organisation has recorded 10 confirmed and 223 suspected Ebola deaths in the central African country, out of more than 1,000 confirmed and suspected cases, according to its latest figures up to May 24.

Neighbouring Uganda has recorded one confirmed death and six additional cases.

The WHO has warned that the true spread of the outbreak is likely much wider.

Italy has already ordered the activation of “targeted health surveillance and monitoring protocols” for travellers returning from the two African countries.

A team of experts from Rome’s Spallanzani Hospital, which specialises in infectious diseases, will also be sent this weekend to Kinshasa to provide technical assistance and deliver medicine and supplies, the government said.

AFP

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