Interfax: West Africa Ebola sooner or later to be contained, virus not to reach Russia – Virology Research Institute

MOSCOW. Oct 17 (Interfax) – Experts from the Ivanovsky Virology Research Institute of the Russian Health Ministry believe the situation with Ebola in the world is unlikely to reach a level when Russia will have to restrict border entry.

“I believe the situation will develop according to a favorable scenario and the outbreak can be contained,” Viktor Larichev, a researcher with the Virology Research Institute, told Interfax on Friday.

The expert said countries, including Russia, will have to impose entry restrictions if the situation dramatically aggravates. “If everyone understands that there is an explosion-like epidemic, the borders will be closed as if there is an outbreak of plague. The mechanism is clear. However, closing the border and saying ‘Don’t fly to us anymore’ is the easiest decision,” he said.

“No one knows if the peak has been passed. The situation will most likely stay tense for some time. If nothing happens, if the infected people don’t run around and start deliberately infecting everyone around them, the situation will stay tense for some time, but the tensions will subside later,” Larichev said.

The expert said a lot will depend on the work of the sanitary services in West Africa and on whether the local population can be taught measures to prevent infection, specifically, not to hug relatives who have died from Ebola before burying them.

Larichev said he believes that the virus will not spread in Russia, even if it is imported into Russia. “It’s practically out of the question. The virus doesn’t spread so easily: there has to be close contact and the person has to be very ill, he has to be practically dying. However, such people are isolated and people who visit them wear protective clothes,” the expert said.

The Russian Health Ministry and Rospotrebnadzor earlier said there is currently no reason to bar people from West Africa form entering Russia over Ebola.