Ebola: Nigeria bars 46 contacts from flying for 21 days
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Leadership
The Nigerian government has placed 46 people exposed to the Ebola virus on a list banning them from flying for 21 days. The measure aims to limit the spread of the Bundibugyo strain after the confirmation of Nigeria's first case, according to Aviation Minister Festus Keyamo.
The Nigerian federal government has asked the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to ban the 46 people exposed to the confirmed Ebola case from flying for 21 days, according to a statement by the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo.
The NCAA is to inform domestic and international airlines so that the people concerned do not travel during their monitoring period. Festus Keyamo issued the directive after a videoconference on Wednesday with the Minister of Health, Muhammad Ali Pate.
Nigeria confirmed its first case of Ebola since 2014, caused by the Bundibugyo strain, on 20 October. The World Health Organisation said the patient, who arrived from Uganda, developed symptoms on 7 October, four days after arriving in Nigeria. She had sought treatment at a private facility in Abuja on 11 October, before further tests confirmed the infection.
The director of public health laboratory services at the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Olajumoke Babatunde, confirmed the strain during a crisis management meeting in Abuja on Wednesday. The travel restriction complements the identification of the patient's contacts, announced on 20 October.
Summary produced with the help of artificial intelligence tools, under AFREEQUE’s editorial responsibility.
