JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel, aiming to increase its preparedness to deal with the Ebola virus, will increase its efforts to find people who have entered the nation from several west African countries.
That was among the measures agreed to at a meeting on Monday of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with government officials.
The countries named were Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, which have seen the greatest spread of the virus. The Health and Foreign ministries will continue to urge Israelis to avoid traveling to those countries.
Joining Netanyahu at the meeting were Yael German, the health minister; Yisrael Katz, the transportation and road safety minister; and Deputy Interior Minister Fania Kirshenbaum. Also, representatives of the Israel Police, Airports Authority and Foreign Ministry participated in the discussion.
On Sunday, Israel’s Foreign Ministry announced it would send three mobile emergency clinics to west Africa in an effort to prevent the spread of Ebola.
Last week, the Israeli government reportedly denied a U.S. request to assist in medical relief in Ebola-stricken west African countries.
Meanwhile, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said he was “very confident” that the city’s hospital system could handle an Ebola outbreak, and that New York has a “much more aggressive and coherent game plan” than other U.S. cities to fight a potential Ebola case, The Associated Press reported.
