KUALA LUMPUR, July 31 — The Health Ministry said today that it is on the alert and is capable of coping with the Ebola virus if the disease, now confined to West Africa, reaches Malaysian shores.

The Health Ministry said it is already working closely with the World Health Organization to monitor the spread of the disease and played down the likelihood of transmission via air travel.

“The risk of infection for travellers is very low as transmission results from direct contact with blood, organs, body fluids or secretions of an infected living or dead persons or animal, which are unlikely exposures for the average traveller,” the ministry’s director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah told Malay Mail Online in an emailed response.

Last Friday, the death of an American passenger who was allowed on two flights within Africa despite showing Ebola-like symptoms sparked fears of a worldwide epidemic, prompting the tracking down of other passengers who had boarded the same plane.

Hong Kong, meanwhile, has cleared a woman showing Ebola-like symptoms.

Noor Hisham said Malaysia already has a system for information exchange between the country’s major airports, ports, hospitals and laboratories in the event of a “public health emergency” which includes the detection of the Ebola.

The ministry’s health-care personnel including those stationed at the country’s entry points have been fully informed of steps to prevent and control the spread of the disease, he added.

“As part of preparedness against any public health emergency or emerging diseases including Ebola, health care workers in Malaysia are well trained in infection prevention and control,” he said, adding that the country has sufficient levels of necessary personal protective equipment.

“There are also sufficient quarantine facilities at points of entry or special isolation units at identified hospitals for patients with diseases like Ebola,” Noor Hisham added.

If there is a sudden outbreak of the Ebola disease, rapid response teams at the national, state and district levels will carry out field investigations and work to control its spread.

A National Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre will coordinate the government’s response to any Ebola cases, besides assessing the scale of the emergency if the virus is found here, he said.

According to statistics from the World Health Organization, as of July 25 there have been 1,201 cases of Ebola disease in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, with 672 deaths or a mortality rate of 56 per cent.

There is currently no cure for the Ebola.  Symptoms of the disease include  fever, muscle aches, vomiting, diarrhoea, impaired liver and kidney function, as well as internal and external bleeding.