The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo has directed the Nigeria Civil Aviation Auty6hority (NCAA) to notify all domestic and international airlines to immediately place 46 persons who had contact with the Ebola patient on no-fly list for 21 days.
The 46 persons include 44 with whom the affected woman came in contact at the hospital when she had developed the symptoms and an additional two persons who are her domestic staff.
This development was disclosed by the minister on his X handle on Wednesday after a virtual meeting with the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammad Ali Pate over the scourge.
Keyamo said efforts are ongoing to isolate them for now until there is certainty they had not been infected with the virus
“This evening, I held a virtual meeting with the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammad Ali Pate over the Ebola scourge. He shared with me a list of 44 persons with whom the affected person came in contact at the hospital when she had developed the symptoms and an additional two persons who are her domestic staff.
“Whilst efforts are ongoing to isolate them for now until there is certainty they had not been infected with the virus, the Aviation authorities are required to put them on a no-fly list for at least 21 days (which is the period that the symptoms are normally expected to manifest).
“I have therefore directed the NCAA to immediately inform all local and international airlines of this development. I have also directed the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to heighten Ebola response and surveillance protocols across all international airports. Measures already being implemented by FAAN include enhanced health screenings, temperature checks, travel history tracking, digital health declarations, and strict inter-agency coordination with the NCDC following regional outbreak alerts earlier.”, he said.
The Federal Government had on Tuesday, confirmed one case of Ebola disease in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), following laboratory test and confirmation.
The patient, a woman who recently arrived in Nigeria on an international flight from Uganda, was admitted to a private hospital in the FCT, where she received care for several days before the diagnosis was confirmed.
She is currently in isolation and receiving medical care.
