Mainland orders local governments to review Ebola preparations
Designated hospitals to handle cases, local authorities to keep and share databases
The mainland's health commission has ordered local governments to review whether public health facilities are prepared to handle Ebola cases.
The National Health and Family Planning Commission asked local authorities to keep and share databases of people who had been in close contact with suspected and confirmed Ebola patients and designated hospitals to handle such cases.
The order came as a mainland drugmaker with military ties revealed it had sent an experimental Ebola drug to Africa for use by Chinese aid workers.
Sihuan Pharmaceutical had supplied several thousand doses of its drug JK-05 to the region and more could be sent if needed, chief operating officer Jia Zhongxin said.
"Aid workers have already taken the drug with them, and if a case breaks out [among the aid workers], then the drug may be used," Huo Caixia, the firm's assistant general manager, said.
Ebola's spread constitutes the worst global health emergency in years, and world leaders have vowed to step up the response to the virus that has killed nearly 4,500 people.
France said it would start health checks this weekend for all air passengers from Guinea, one of the worst-hit nations.
