Manama, Nov9(BNA)A World Health Organisation (WHO) delegation today started a three-day visit to Bahrain to assess the precautionary measures aimed at countering any potential outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus.

The WHO experts will also evaluate the facilities of the Ministry so as to bolster its preparedness to prevent the epidemic from spreading to Bahrain. The WHO team includes Dr. Ershad Shaikh, Dr. Hemayon Asghar, Dr. Ali Ridha, Ines Hammam and Dr. Hassan Al-Bishri. .

“Bahrain is beefing up precautionary measures amid alarming Ebola outbreak in West Africa”, Health Minister Sadiq bin Abdulkarim Al-Shehabi said. Citing WHO updated figures, he said that over 5,000 patients died out of more than 13,000 people who contracted the deadly Ebola virus.

He stressed the directives of His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al-Khalifa to ensure the safety of citizens and expatriates as well as the visitors. The WHO delegation today held a meeting with health officials led by Undersecretary Dr. Aisha Mubarak Bu’unq. The session featured a presentation outlining the preventive measures which should be enforced in case an Ebola case is detected at Bahrain International Airport.

The WHO experts, who will wrap up their evaluative visit on Tuesday, will submit their recommendations to Health Minister Sadiq bin Abdulkarim Al-Shehabi.

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BNA 1929 GMT 2014/11/09