Queensland Ebola scare: Bob Katter blames ‘selfish’ humanitarians
BOB Katter has taken aim at an unusual new target in the wake of yesterday’s Australian Ebola scare - humanitarians.
OUTSPOKEN Queensland MP Bob Katter has hit out at humanitarian workers assisting aid efforts in Ebola-stricken countries saying their ambitions come at “a grave cost to Australia”.
Mr Katter said it was “unbelievable and incomprehensive” that the Queensland nurse, who has since been cleared of the disease was allowed back into Australia so freely after working with Ebola victims.
Cairns woman sue Ellen Kovack had isolated herself in her own home, only in contact with her flatmate, and was self-testing before presenting at Cairns hospital yesterday with a fever, but Mr Katter said these measures were not enough.
“There cannot be any compromise with this,” Mr Katter said.
“If you want to go to one of these countries, however laudable your motivation, I am sorry but when you return to Australia, you must be quarantined for three weeks — not home quarantined.”
Mr Katter said Australian aid workers were putting Australia at risk.
“We honour these Australians for being self-sacrificing, but compared to the risk they create for our country, it is not remotely comparable,” he said.
“One person’s moral and humanitarian ambitions are being carried out at a very grave cost to Australia.”
Federal Health Minister Peter Dutton hosed down Mr Katter’s comments saying he would be “very happy for Mr Katter to be properly informed and be able to make a comment after that”.
Red Cross Australia, who Ms Kovack was working with at an Ebola hospital in Sierra Leone, has responded saying efforts to contain the outbreak in West Africa must not be overtaken by fear about the disease in Autralia.
Head of Red Cross’ international programs Peter Walton told AAP Ms Kovack’s case was proof Australia’s systems were sufficient, and aid workers should not be put off.
“I think this case demonstrates that we have very strict processes and procedures to mitigate risk and those systems worked,” he said.
Queensland Health revealed this morning Ms Kovack does not have Ebola, and there was no virus detectable in her blood stream.
#Qld #Ebola case returns negative result - more to follow
— Queensland Health (@qldhealthnews) October 9, 2014Chief Health Officer said no virus detectable in her blood stream but will be kept under observation #Ebola #Qld
— Queensland Health (@qldhealthnews) October 9, 2014
The 57-year-old woman will be kept under observation for 24 hours, Queensland Health announced, saying they wanted “to be sure she is clear of EVD and any other disease”.
The state health department was at pains to assure the community there
Ms Kovack had recently returned from Ebola-ravaged West Africa, working as a nurse in an Ebola hospital in Sierra Leone.
She presented to the Cairns Hospital yesterday afternoon with a low-grade fever after returning home.
Queensland chief health officer earlier urged the community to remain calm while awaiting Ms Kovack’s results.
“There is no need for any community concern at all because this particular individual has only recently got any sort of symptom and she’s been in her own home, isolated there, so there is absolutely no risk for the general community in Cairns,” Queensland chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young said.
Aside from a temperature of 37.6C when she arrived at the hospital, Dr Young said yesterday the nurse was feeling well.
A sample of her blood was flown to Brisbane yesterday afternoon to a specialist waiting to conduct the tests which were expected to take four hours.
Ms Kovack was said to be in high spirits while awaiting her test results.
While Dr Young praised Ms Kovack as “an amazing lady” for her aid work in West Africa, Federal MP Bob Katter had a different view.
The outspoken MP, whose electorate of Kennedy includes the southern area of Cairns slammed quarantine authorities and said the nurse put the nation a at risk because of her humanitarian ambitions.
Mr Katter said it was “unbelievable and incomprehensive” how a person could get into Australia from an Ebola infected country.
“There cannot be any compromise with this,” Mr Katter said.
“If you want to go to one of these countries, however laudable your motivation, I am sorry but when you return to Australia, you must be quarantined for three weeks — not home quarantined.”
Mr Katter said Australian aid workers travelling to west Africa, including Ms Kovack, were putting Australia at risk.
“We love these people, and we honour these Australians for being self-sacrificing, but compared to the risk they create for our country, it is not remotely comparable. One person’s moral and humanitarian ambitions are being carried out at a very grave cost to Australia.”
The short-lived scare comes as news emerges a British man has died from the disease in Macedonia, following the death of a Liberian national in the US.
Humanitarian efforts to contain an Ebola outbreak in west Africa must not be overtaken by an epidemic of fear about the disease in Australia, the Red Cross says.
Cairns nurse Sue-Ellen Kovack, 57, has been cleared of Ebola by initial tests after she returned from a one-month deployment in Sierra Leone with the Red Cross as a specialist aid worker.
She returned on Tuesday but presented to authorities on Thursday after developing a low-grade fever of 37.6 degrees.
It was the second Ebola scare to test state and federal infectious disease protocols in Queensland within a month.
A 27-year-old Gold Coast man was cleared of Ebola in September after complaining of vague symptoms following a trip to west Africa.
Peter Walton, head of international programs with the Australian Red Cross, says there was a minimal risk Ms Kovack had contracted the disease.
“I think this case demonstrates that we have very strict processes and procedures to mitigate risk and those systems worked,” he told AAP on Friday.
Ms Kovack is still within the 21-day incubation period for the Ebola virus and will continue to be monitored in Cairns.
Australia’s infectious disease protocols were capable of picking up any potential case at the border, Queensland’s chief health officer Jeannette Young said.
“Our systems are very thorough,” she told the ABC.
“We’ve now tested them twice in Queensland. We know what needs to be done and we have those processes in place.” Mr Walton praised Mr Kovack for adhering to national guidelines. “The process was clearly working,” he said.
“I would hate to think that dealing with this epidemic and containing it in west Africa gets overtaken by an epidemic of fear in Australia.” Mr Walton said the Ebola outbreak was a huge health emergency, with more than 8000 people infected.
“The world certainly needs to do more to contain what is an unprecedented outbreak.” Federal MP Bob Katter has blasted current infectious disease procedures and suggested people returning from an Ebola-impacted region should be subject to stricter quarantine measures. But Mr Walton disagreed and said Australia had a moral obligation to help curb the epidemic.
“The efforts need to be in containing this outbreak, not just thinking around how we can protect our borders.”
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