Health and Child Care Minister Douglas Mombeshora has warned that Ebola could enter Zimbabwe undetected through infected travellers who are still in the incubation stage, prompting heightened screening at airports, hotels and summit venues.

Mombeshora said the risk required additional vigilance as Zimbabwe hosts the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), a high-level summit expected to attract large numbers of international delegates, amid reports of Ebola cases in parts of Africa.

Speaking after touring port health screening facilities at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport on Thursday, the minister said travellers could pass through airport checks without showing symptoms before developing them later.

He said the government had therefore extended screening beyond the airport to hotels where delegates are staying and venues where summit meetings are taking place.

“People may come in whilst they are in the incubation stage and then develop symptoms when they have already passed the airport,” Mombeshora said.

The minister expressed satisfaction with the screening facilities at the airport, including newly installed cameras capable of detecting elevated body temperatures from four to six metres away.

The cameras can screen multiple people simultaneously, allowing health officials to identify travellers with high temperatures for further assessment without stopping everyone individually.

Mombeshora said isolation facilities were also in place and health workers had been prepared to respond to suspected cases.

Ebola has triggered regional health security concerns following reports of cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya and Nigeria, while Uganda has declared its outbreak over.

Mombeshora said the seriousness of the disease made it essential for Zimbabwe to strengthen its defences against possible imported cases as international visitors arrive for the summit.

The expanded screening programme is intended to complement airport checks by monitoring delegates at accommodation facilities and meeting venues, where symptoms could emerge after arrival.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Ebola disease is a severe, often fatal illness affecting humans and other primates.

The virus is transmitted to people from wild animals (such as fruit bats, porcupines and non-human primates) and then spreads in the human population through direct contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people and with surfaces and materials (e.g., bedding, clothing) contaminated with these fluids.

The average Ebola disease case fatality rate is around 50%.

Case fatality rates have varied from 25% to 90% in past outbreaks.

The first Ebola disease outbreaks occurred in remote villages in Central Africa, near tropical rainforests.

The 2014–2016 Ebola virus disease outbreak in West Africa was the largest and most complex Ebola outbreak since the virus was first discovered in 1976.