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UK flights from Zika-hit countries to be ‘disinsected’
Flights coming into the UK from countries hit by the Zika virus will be sprayed with insecticides to stop the virus spreading.
The Government said to combat mosquitos which may have entered the aircraft cabins of planes travelling to Europe, insecticide will be sprayed to kill them off.
It comes as a number of airlines say cabin crew can switch flights if they are concerned about contracting the Zika virus from routes to affected countries.
United, Delta, American, Lufthansa and Air France are offering to re-assign certain flight crew, reports Reuters.
Air France said it had offered that flexibility during the Ebola outbreak and a spokeswoman for Lufthansa said so far only a few crew members had switched routes because of fears over Zika.
The Zika virus, which is carried by mosquitos, is believed to cause abnormally small skulls and brain damage in babies.
Florida, a major tourist destination for Britons, has also declared a health emergency over the virus after nine cases were detected there.
The UK Department for Health said the spraying procedure, known as ‘disinsection’, already takes place on many flights as a precaution against malaria.
But it added that the virus was ‘extremely unlikely to be able to survive and breed here given the lower temperatures in the UK’.
The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists have advised that pregnant women who have travelled to countries affected by Zika in the Americas and Caribbean will be given extra ultrasound scans to check for abnormalities in their developing foetus.
Women are being warned to avoid Zika-hit countries in Latin America and the Caribbean if they are pregnant or are thinking about becoming pregnant.
Diane
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