Health screening for Ebola has begun at the Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and Tirupati airports and the Visakhapatnam seaport, on Tuesday (May 26, 2026) after the Andhra Pradesh government issued an alert on the spread of the virus in several African countries. At Vijayawada, 185 passengers were screened on Tuesday, and none showed symptoms. No case has been found so far.
The Visakhapatnam district administration has activated emergency measures, and incoming travellers and seamen are being checked, besides at the Government hospital here.
District officials have started review meetings to assess preparedness at the terminals and coordinate screening between the health and aviation departments.
The administration is focusing on travellers who have a recent history of foreign travel. Health and education authorities have prepared a list of travellers from the listed countries.
Representatives of Andhra University and GITAM (Deemed to be University) said about 100 new admissions from African nations were expected for the academic year beginning in June. Authorities are monitoring the arrival schedules, since many travellers, including residents, tourists and students, are expected.
Isolation ward
The administration has set up a 30-bed isolation ward at the Government Hospital for Chest and Communicable Diseases here for any emergency.
Sunil Kumar, Superintendent of the chest hospital and nodal officer for Ebola, told The Hindu on Tuesday that a 30-bed quarantine ward had been set up for Ebola cases at the hospital. No case had come in for screening so far, he said.
“We will screen only people who have a travel history to the African countries. This means they have to go there and come back here,” he said. The admission of students was a separate category, he added. Mr. Sunil said people were sorted into categories A, B, and C for screening. “As per the DMHO orders and the list they send, we screen them here and confirm the result after thorough laboratory tests, as per WHO protocols,” he said.
Surveillance is also being maintained on connecting flights. Travellers from Singapore, or on connecting domestic flights from hubs such as Hyderabad and Bengaluru, are being checked on reaching Visakhapatnam so that no suspected case is missed.
Ebola usually has an acute onset, the main signs being cold, sore throat, high fever, chills, severe body aches and headaches. If unchecked, the condition can worsen quickly, which makes early detection at transit points important for containment and care, Mr. Sunil said.
The district health administration is following five protocols
Screening is focused on people with a documented travel history to the affected African countries, and their departure and return dates are verified.
Incoming passengers and students are sorted into risk groups, Categories A, B and C, by vulnerability and exposure.
Any traveller who shows symptoms at the airport or seaport is shifted to isolation at the 30-bed chest hospital ward.
Blood samples from suspected cases are collected by the King George Hospital virology lab and sent to Pune for confirmation.
All procedures, isolation orders and final confirmations follow World Health Organisation protocols and the directions of the District Medical and Health Officer.
Three airports identified
Apart from Visakhapatnam, the Department of Health, Medical Education and Family Welfare has taken up screening at the Vijayawada and Tirupati airports as a precaution. At Vijayawada, the checks are being done at the airport in Gannavaram.
Vijayawada has flights only to Singapore, so only those arrivals are being checked there for now. According to medical staff at the airport, 185 passengers were screened on Tuesday, and none showed any symptoms. The staff check passengers for temperature and ask whether they have body pains, throat ache, extreme weakness, vomiting or black stool, and record their travel history over the past 30 days.
If a passenger has a fever, they are first referred to the Government General Hospital, Vijayawada, for tests, and placed under quarantine if necessary, the medical staff said.
The flights from Singapore land on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, airport authorities said, and a team of four medical experts, including a doctor, will screen passengers on these days. Domestic passengers are not being screened.
The screening would continue until the State health department issued further instructions, the authorities said.
On Sunday, the health department had asked those who had recently travelled to the affected countries to watch their health for 30 days and inform the district authorities at once if they developed symptoms.
Published – May 26, 2026 11:38 am IST