Ebola: Govt urged to screen tourists during Hornbill fest
Source: The Sangai Express / Press Trust of India
Kohima, October 24 2014 :
In view of the Ebola outbreak in several parts of the world, Naga Hoho, the apex tribal body of Nagaland, today requested the state government to conduct rigorous screening of tourists coming to the state during the Hornbill Festival beginning December 1 .
"The festive season is setting in soon and along with it will come tourists from various parts of the world to the state," Naga Hoho General Secretary Mutsikhoyo Yhobu said in a letter to Chief Minister T R Zeliang.
The world has been threatened with various diseases for which concerns were raised in various quarters on the unpreparedness of the state in tackling such cases, the letter said.
"The recent outbreak of Ebola is raging around the world and that neighbouring state Manipur was recently scared with a Japanese tourist coming from Myanmar who was suddenly found ill and was hospitalised and suspected to be suffering from Ebola.
It's a happy augury that the test results have been negative," Yhobu said in the letter.
Appreciating the state government's initiatives for promoting tourism as a result of which the state has been having steady flow of tourists specially during Hornbill Festival in December, the Naga Hoho requested the Chief Minister to take precautionary measures by screening the tourists to protect the citizens.