By South East Asia correspondent Samantha Hawley
Thai health officials are closely monitoring thousands of people who have arrived from Africa in an effort to prevent an Ebola outbreak.
Since June 8, health officials have kept track of almost 2,800 passengers who have arrived in Thailand from Africa.
Only three, including one Australian, have shown symptoms of Ebola and all have been cleared.
Dr Vichan Pawan, the man in charge of health control at Bangkok’s busy international airport, said he was leaving nothing to chance.
“I think the risk of getting Ebola is minimal,” Dr Pawan said.
Despite this, as passengers stream off flights arrival from Africa twice a day, thermal imaging machines measure the body temperature of each person.
A reading of 37 degrees Celsius or over is a fail and a further medical examination follows.
Other passengers have to proceed to a second counter to explain where they have come from and where they are going.
“We cannot guarantee that this is 100 per cent effective,” Dr Pawan said.
“If the passenger can feel their fever, they don’t tell the health control staff so we may miss them.”
However, most passengers said they did not mind the inconvenience.
“I think it’s good, what they’re doing, to make sure people are safe when they come into the country,” one traveller said.
Another said the checks were no problem: “You know it’s not only here. In Mali [which is] my country, they are checking the same [way].”
While Thai health experts said the risk of an airline passenger slipping through their screening procedures and infecting others was low, they admitted there was a much greater risk of the disease travelling to Thailand via land corridors.
With 5,000 kilometres of land borders to patrol, it is impossible for Thailand to monitor all those who enter the country from neighbouring countries.
“We’ve had some cases in Cambodia. It’s maybe the threat for Thailand,” said deputy director-general of Thailand’s department of disease control, Dr Opart Karnkawingpong.
“I think we can control people from the airport because we have immigration processes but [at] the border, there are so many people.”
South East Asian health ministers will meet in Bangkok next month to develop a more coordinated response to Ebola prevention.