Brussels Airport, a hub for flights coming from Africa, said on Friday it had hired a specialised firm to check baggage coming from Ebola-hit regions, after a union told its members to no longer handle such items.

The company will screen luggage from Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia and destroy any it suspects may be contaminated.

Belgium's socialist union on Wednesday had called on its members at Brussels Airport to no longer handle baggage from infected areas.

The airport said in a statement it was "taking such concerns seriously."

European Union health ministers have agreed to try to improve West African nations' screening of departing passengers for Ebola, but disagreed on the need to check travellers arriving in their own countries.

Brussels Airlines, Belgium's largest airline, flies to 19 destinations in Africa including regular flights to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

Belgium's health ministry on Friday appointed a national coordinator for Ebola and said it was considering measures such as checking incoming passengers from infected areas.

"I don't want panic to break out in the country," Health Minister Maggie De Block told a news conference in Brussels.

"Autumn is a time of infections and a runny nose or flu has nothing to do with Ebola," she added. – Reuters