Foreigners with Ebola won't be let into SA for treatment

South Africa will not treat foreigners who contract the deadly Ebola virus, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said on Friday.

"If there is a confirmed diagnosis of a foreign national, they will not be allowed into the country [to get treatment]," NICD head of public health, surveillance, and response Lucille Blumberg told reporters in Johannesburg.

"If it is undiagnosed and the person does not know, they will be treated."

The Associated Press reported that over 700 people had died in West Africa from Ebola, with the worst-recorded outbreak in history centred in Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia.

Read: Family in US free of Ebola

Minimal chances of a pandemic

Blumberg said although the government had taken a stand on the treatment of foreigners, those infected would not generally have the means to come to South Africa and seek treatment.

There were no cases of Ebola in the country and the chances of such a pandemic breaking out in the country were minimal, she said.

"We have no Ebola in the country. The chances of the outbreak in SA are very small," she said.

Blumberg said it was important for people to know about the virus and for those infected to disclose their status to doctors. She said the virus was not easily transmitted and said those travelling to affected areas would not contract the virus.

"You need direct contact with an individual infected. You cannot get it from the air," she said.

Read: How prepared is South Africa for an Ebola outbreak?

Currently out of control

A senior American health official says the United States is sending at least 50 public health experts to West Africa over the next month to tackle this worst-ever outbreak of Ebola.

The director of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said Ebola was currently out of control but could be easily stopped with basic health practices.

In Liberia, saving the living is proving a strain for the country's health services, and even disposing of the dead is a process burdened with problems.

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Image: South Africa under magnifier from Shutterstock