Kenya to bar flights from Ebola-hit nations
Print Edition
THE Kenyan government said it will bar passengers traveling from three West African countries hit by the Ebola outbreak, closing a debate in East Africa’s economic powerhouse about whether the national airline was exposing the country to the deadly disease.
The suspension will come into effect from midnight on Tuesday for all ports of entry for people traveling from or through Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, said Kenya’s Health Ministry. Nigeria was not included in the ban, which also allows entry to health professionals and Kenyans returning from those countries.
“This step is in line with the recognition of the extraordinary measures urgently required to contain the Ebola outbreak in West Africa,” the Health Ministry said. It cited the World Health Organization’s recent statement that the magnitude of the Ebola outbreak has been underestimated.
Following the government’s announcement on Saturday, Kenya Airways said it would suspend flights to Liberia and Sierra Leone. Kenya Airways, a major transport provider in Africa, has wrestled with the decision whether to continue flying to West Africa during the Ebola outbreak. Its suspension of flights is an abrupt reversal of its announcement on Friday that it would continue flying.
Social commentators, medical experts and Kenyan politicians said they feared the airline was putting profits ahead of prudence, and that KQ, as the airline is known, would spread Ebola. The airline flies more than 70 flights a week to West Africa, but Chief Executive Titus Naikuni said on Thursday that the airline’s flight decisions had nothing to do with money.
The airline said flights actually help contain the Ebola outbreak by transporting medical staff, supplies and equipment to West Africa.
But doctors representing the Kenya Medical Association had asked Kenya Airways to suspend flights to the four countries affected by Ebola “until things stabilize.” Members of parliament also called on the carrier to halt its West African operations.
Several airlines have already suspended flights to Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, including British Airways, Emirates Airlines, Arik Air and ASKY Airlines. Nigeria became the fourth Ebola-affected country late last month after a Liberian-American man sick with the disease flew to Lagos on an ASKY flight and infected several people before he died.
Officials in Cameroon, which borders Nigeria, announced it would suspend all flights from all four Ebola-affected countries. Korean Air announced on Thursday that it would temporarily halt its service to Kenya despite the fact there are no cases of Ebola in the country.
The World Health Organization has denounced the travel bans. The virus has a low transmission risk during air travel, since it is spread via bodily fluid and is not airborne, said Isabelle Nuttall, director of the organization’s Global Capacity Alert and Response.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
