Haiti announces screening measures for China virus

Haiti's Ministry of Public Health announced Tuesday heightened screening measures at the country's main international airport to limit the potential spread of a virus from China.

The ministry will set up a screening area at the Toussaint L'Overture International Airport in Port-Au-Prince, as well as an area to quarantine passengers suspected of carrying the new coronavirus.

The Director General of the Public Health Service, Dr. Laure Adrien, stressed at a press conference there are no known cases of coronavirus in Haiti, but the ministry wants to actively address the threat from the fast spreading infection.

Haiti's poor public health infrastructure and tightly packed neighborhoods make the island vulnerable to a fast-spreading infection like the coronavirus, and once established in the country would be hard to contain and treat.

Authorities will target passengers coming from affected countries in Asia for special screening and monitoring once they arrive in the country.Agents from the ministry will be on hand at the airport to immediately screen such passengers for infection before allowing them into the country, and in some cases will quarantine the affected passengers in a holding area set up at the facility.

(Image Credit: AP)