Nigeria bars 46 Ebola contacts from flying for 21 days
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Leadership
Nigeria has banned 46 people who came into contact with an Ebola patient from flying for 21 days, Aviation Minister Festus Keyamo announced. Authorities are also stepping up health surveillance at international airports and seeking to isolate the contacts, according to Leadership.
Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, asked the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority to ban the 46 people who had contact with the Ebola patient from flying for 21 days. He announced the measure after a virtual meeting with Health Minister Muhammad Ali Pate, according to Nigerian media outlet Leadership.
The group includes 44 people who came into contact with the patient at a hospital after her symptoms appeared, as well as two members of her domestic staff. Health authorities are seeking to isolate them and are assessing their exposure to the virus, Leadership reports.
Keyamo also asked the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria to strengthen surveillance at international airports. Planned measures include health and temperature screening, tracking travellers’ movements and digital health declarations, in coordination with the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.
The decision follows confirmation on Tuesday of Nigeria’s first Ebola case, in the Federal Capital Territory. The patient, who arrived from Uganda on an international flight, is being treated in isolation at a private hospital in Abuja. Authorities had already begun contact tracing and isolation after this imported Ebola case in Nigeria.
Summary produced with the help of artificial intelligence tools, under AFREEQUE’s editorial responsibility.
