Quarantine authorities in the Pingtan Comprehensive Pilot Zone of Fujian province, ran a simulation of handling a man suspected of carrying the deadly Ebola virus on Sept 17.

A suspect carrying the Ebola virus receives a medical checkup at the port in Pingtan, Fujian province, Sept 17. [Photo/pingtan.gov.cn]

The suspect arrived at the Aoqian passenger terminal boarding the Haixia, a passenger liner linking Pingtan and Taiwan, in the morning. He showed symptoms of fever and headache and was found to have been in Nigeria a week ago, one of the places where the virus is spreading rampantly.

Staff at the entry-exit inspection and quarantine bureau of Pingtan immediately reported the case to their superiors and initiated the contingency plan.

The suspect was escorted to a medical treatment room at a customs inspection building via a special channel for a preliminary checkup, while the border guards cleared the site

The man was later transferred to the Pingtan County Hospital for further examination. Staff at the passenger port then carried out a thorough disinfection at the site.

The entire drill took about 50 minutes to complete.

The drill is to enhance the capability of handling the EBHF epidemic at the port, said Pan Huayang, an official with the Pingtan Customs.

“As the number of cases of Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EBHF) keep rising around the world, the World Health Organization has announced it has become an escalated incident. Fujian is faced with risks of receiving those cases because it has more communication with African countries in trade and economy,” he said.