WASHINGTON, October 10 (RIA Novosti) - Cabin cleaners have announced a 24-hour strike at New York's LaGuardia Airport because of concern about the risk of Ebola, the Financial Times reported Thursday.
Around 200 workers set up pickets outside LaGuardia Airport Terminal D on Thursday morning saying they have to work in unsafe conditions, which puts them at risk of contracting the deadly virus.
"The health and safety concerns we have are for the most part around contact with bodily fluids. Workers are pretty much every day in direct contact with bodily fluids," Amity Paye, a protesters representative said, as quoted by the Financial Times.
The workers said they lack proper equipment, like working gloves and protective uniforms.
The news comes a day after White House announced that additional measures to prevent the Ebola virus from entering the United States would be introduced in five airports of the country: in New York, Washington, Chicago and Atlanta. New York's LaGuardia Airport is not on the list.
At least 50 people are currently at risk from exposure to Ebola in the United States. On Wednesday morning, Liberian national Thomas Eric Duncan, who was the first person to be diagnosed with Ebola in the United States, reportedly died at a hospital in Dallas, Texas.
The Ebola epidemic currently taking place in West Africa broke out in Guinea, and later spread across Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and Senegal.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 3,866 people have been killed by Ebola in West Africa. A total of 8,034 people have been affected by the virus.
The virus is transmitted through direct contact with the bodily fluids of those infected. Though there is no officially approved medication for the disease, several countries, including Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Japan are working on developing Ebola vaccines.
