MOSCOW, October 10 (RIA Novosti) - Deputy Prime Minister of Spain Soraya Saenz de Santamaria will chair a special committee to manage Ebola crisis in Spain, La Vanguardia newspaper reported Friday.
"The task is to coordinate the means and resources, to establish maximum transparency for the Spanish society and to coordinate [the work] with the international community," the newspaper quoted the deputy prime minister as saying.
The special committee will include representatives from various ministries and the scientific community, the newspaper reported.
The decision to create a special committee comes as the government's main concern now is the health of Teresa Romero Ramos, the nurse infected with Ebola and undergoing treatment at one of the hospitals in Madrid.
Teresa Romero Ramos tested positive after taking part in the treatment of Spanish priest Manuel Garcia Viejo, who became infected with the Ebola virus, while assisting patients in Sierra Leone and died in a Madrid hospital on September 25. This was the first Ebola case in Europe during the current outbreak.
There are another thirteen people isolated for observation at the hospital, where Teresa Romero Ramos is undergoing treatment.
The Ebola 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. More than 3,800 people overall have lost their lives to Ebola, according to WHO, with West African Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Senegal being a hotbed of the disease.
