Updated - A National Ebola Drill is to be held next month, the Parliamentary Secretary for Health, Chris Fearne, said this morning.

The drill will be the high point of a training programme for paramedical staff and people manning Malta's entry points.

Dr Fearne said measures are being taken to strengthen entry screening at ports and airports, and he would be giving a statement on Ebola preparedness in parliament this evening.

Meanwhile, the Nationalist Party in a statement this morning said the government should upgrade its preparedness for Ebola.

It said the government should consider obligatory screening for all arrivals at airports and seaports who would have entered the EU from regions which had reported Ebola.

The government should also consider having an isolation/infectious diseases unit which is separate from Mater Dei Hospital.

PN health spokesman Claudio Grech said the government should invite unions and stakeholders in the health system to sit on a monitoring committee, although the final say in decision-making would be the government’s.

A register of resources which could be called up should an Ebola case be reported was also necessary.