Ebola Viral Haemorrhagic Fever – Movement of affected and non-affected crew

Initial response:

Where Ebola infection is found to be present on board a vessel or even suspected, the handling and control of the response will be largely removed from shipowners and underwriters. 

Once a crewmember exhibits the symptoms of Ebola, he must be treated locally in a clinic operated by a competent NGO such as Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF) or government/intergovernmental agency.

Those who have been in close proximity to the infected crewmember may be subject to isolation and quarantine upon the orders of the local authorities, and a quarantine of an entire crew, regardless of proximity, cannot be ruled out.

A vessel whose crew have been affected by the disease may be ordered to a remote quarantine anchorage for a considerable period of time, as well as being subject to sanitary inspections and fumigations of accommodation, public and cargo spaces.

Where the patient becomes symptomatic outside the West Africa region, where the outbreak and the international response are focussed, there may be few suitable facilities available and cooperation with the competent authorities will be crucial.

Following a slow start, the domestic response and international assistance in the affected West African countries have improved, in terms both of the capacity to isolate and treat symptomatic patients and of the tracking and monitoring of people thought to be at risk of having contracted Ebola.

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