A 28-year-old Indian engineer who was working in Nigeria is Delhi’s first suspected Ebola case. He is now in an isolation ward at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in New Delhi, from where his blood samples were sent to Pune’s National Institute of Virology for tests.
The government went into tizzy Sunday after the control room got a call from the engineer’s brother, himself a doctor, claiming his brother had Ebola. “We got a call from Jhansi from his brother saying his brother was landing at Delhi airport and that he had Ebola,” a control room source told this newspaper.
The engineer, who works with a construction company in Nigeria, was arriving on a Qatar Airways flight. He was immediately tracked and quarantined in an isolation ward at RML. Sources said while his initial Elisa test had been negative, but his blood samples were sent to NIV Pune for further confirmation. He has also tested positive for malaria. The results from the NIV Pune tests are expected by Tuesday evening. Even if the test is negative, he will remain under close watch as the incubation period of the virus is 21 days.
All airports in India are on high alert for Ebola, which was declared as a global emergency by WHO. The health ministry has set up a 24-hour emergency helpline (011-23061469/3205/1302) for handling queries.