The GCC states are planning to approve a strategy to combat the Ebola virus, which would include tests for all expatriate workers, said the director general of the GCC’s health ministers’ council.

The council would discuss an array of topics and propose an agenda for the upcoming 78th conference of the GCC health ministers, Tawfeek Ahmad Khoja was quoted as saying in an Arab News report.

The health conference hosted by Saudi Arabia will run on February 4 and 5 in Riyadh.

The plan includes testing all foreign workers for Ebola, Khoja said, adding the summit would also look at tackling cancer, smoking and various infectious diseases and discuss joint drug purchases and health promotion activities.

The Saudi Ministry of Labour in September imposed a temporary ban on the recruitment of workers from the Ebola-affected countries of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, the report said.