Punta Cana International Airport operations director Walter Zemialkowski has told the press that a rumor that a passenger who arrived from Philadelphia yesterday, Wednesday 8 October 2014 was affected by the lethal Ebola virus was false. Zemialkowski explained that it was the passenger himself who in mid flight announced that he had been in Africa and was affected by the disease, causing the aircraft to be isolated and a medical team to rush to the aircraft in protective suits on its arrival in Punta Cana.
“I have Ebola, you are all screwed,” the bothersome passenger reportedly told his more than 200 fellow passengers. Zemialkowski says that security personnel detained the passenger and took him to the medical health area where he was submitted to a rigorous checkup.
“We delivered the passenger to the airline, which has its policy, but he will be returned to the United States, where he will be submitted to another rigorous check,” he stated.
The passenger came from Philadelphia on US Airways. As reported, the other passengers were shocked when they heard the man’s shouts. The Ministry of Public Health confirmed that the report that the country had received a person suspected of being infected with the Ebola virus was a false alarm.
“The information that states that a person suspected of being sick with Ebola arrived in our country through the Punta Cana Airport is absolutely false,” said Public Health Ministry communications director Eduardo Rosario Bourdierd.
The Ministry spokesman said that at 2:30pm a high-ranking officer from the Specialized Airport Security Corps and an executive from the Punta Cana International Airport notified the Director General of Epidemiology that the captain of the US Airways aircraft reported the passenger from Philadelphia.