PANICKING parents have demanded that two teachers at their children’s school be quarantined for Ebola after they visit Kenya – 3,000 miles from the disease-ridden zone.
They have gathered a 60-name petition urging Berkeley Primary School to avoid “unnecessary risk” by keeping the pair away until they are shown to be uninfected.
The staff members have already left on the regular visit to Mutarakwa primary school in the as-yet untouched country on Africa’s east coast.
But despite the hotspots of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone being on the opposite coast, parents want the teachers isolated for the disease’s three-week incubation period.
One mother said: “What we’re asking for is for the teachers to stay off school when they get back for the incubation period.”
Another said: “Where they’re going is clear at the moment, but it’s where they’re travelling through – it’s through the main airport.”
A third said: “I fully support this initiative, however, in light of the current Ebola crisis, surely it is a concern that the school will have staff visiting areas abroad.”
The school in Crewe, Cheshire, is the latest in Britain to be approached by parents worried about exchange trips with African partners.
Raysfield infants, in Chipping Sodbury, Gloucs., and Howden-le-Wear, in Durham, called off visits by teachers from Gambia and Ghana – neither of which have recorded Ebola cases – respectively.
Berkeley school’s head Carolyn Brown insisted the trip does not pose a threat to pupils.
“The school has confirmed that there is no more risk of catching Ebola in Kenya than there is in the UK.
“Kenya has stopped all flights to and from the infected areas and passengers are being screened on all flights from West Africa.”
She added: “There is currently no change in the advice from the Government, Foreign Office, World Health Organisation or the British Council regarding travel to Kenya. It is important to emphasise that there have been no reported cases of Ebola in Kenya.
“If whilst the teachers are out in Kenya the health or travel advice changes, we will follow the advice from the Foreign Office, World Health Organisation and British Council.”
-express.co.uk
