A picture taken on August 19, 2014 in Monrovia show an Ebola information billboard.
The World Health Organisation or WHO is working with the Health Ministry to formulate a "preparedness plan" in case the country witnesses an Ebola outbreak.
"Preparation is a very critical aspect. WHO is working with the Ministry of Family Welfare and Planning to ensure that we put into place preparedness measures. It doesn't mean it is going to happen, but we are prepared if it happens," said Asheena Khalakdina, Team Leader, Communicable Disease, WHO Country Office.
She said countries should be prepared to deal with such diseases in case of an outbreak. "We have outbreak measures in place and in India we are looking at airports and other entry points," said Ms Khalakdina.
Lauding the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Ministry's "proactive" measures in dealing with Ebola, Ms Khalakdina said still there were gaps and the WHO was working with the government to deal with them.
"It requires a great amount of effort to reach a 100 per cent (in preventing an Ebola case in the country). The Ministry is very serious (in handling the situation). Even before the pandemic was announced the Minister (Harsh Vardhan) discussed some measures to go about in this. Every country has areas where they can make progress. India is not an exception and we are working to identify where the gaps are," she said.
WHO had recently informed the Ministry that one passenger had travelled on the same flight in which an Ebola patient (foreign national) was travelling from Morovia to Lagos. The Indian passenger was tracked down and now his health is being regularly monitored by the authorities.
According to the WHO, in 1976, the disease first appeared in two simultaneous outbreaks in Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo. Until December 2013, a total of 23 outbreaks has resulted im 2,388 human cases and 1,590 deaths.
The current outbreak began in Guinea in late 2013 and spread to neighbouring countries, but it is still unknown how the 2014 outbreak in West Africa started where four countries -- Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria -- have been affected.