New Delhi, May 22 -- The Union Health Ministry has directed all states and Union territories to strengthen surveillance, enhance hospital preparedness, and intensify screening of international travellers after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).

In a letter dated May 21 to chief secretaries and UT administrators, Union Health Secretary Punya Salila Srivastava stated that countries neighbouring the DRC and Uganda, including South Sudan, have been identified as being at high risk of the disease spreading.

"While the current assessment indicates that the risk to countries outside the affected African region...