Ebola Outbreak: Government Steps Up Surveillance At Nigerian Airports

The Nigerian government has step up measures to curtail the spread of the dreaded Ebola virus at airports across the country.

NaijaNews.com learnt that the Nigerian airports have been adequately fortified.

Also See: WHO Confirms Second Ebola Case In DR Congo

The Acting General Manager, Corporate Affairs, FAAN, Mrs. Henrietta Yakubu, has assured passengers and other users of their safety at the nation’s airports as adequate measures had been put in place to prevent the re-occurrence of the Ebola outbreak in Nigeria.

Additional personnel, thermal scanners, and sanitisers were deployed in the country’s two major international airports by the Federal Government on Monday as part of measures to forestall another round of Ebola outbreak in Nigeria.

Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, and the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos are the major focus areas, although plans are also been made to extend similar surveillance to the Port Harcourt International Airport as well as the Kano International Airport.

According to Mrs. Henrietta Yakubu, Ebola screening points and detecting machines have been fully reinstated at the airports, she added that the authority was also collaborating with the Federal Ministry of Health, through the Port Health Service, to reactivate the Ebola awareness and sensitisation campaign.

While stating that there was no outbreak of Ebola in the country, Yakubu implores passengers and airport users to go about their business activities without fear.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation, WHO has ruled out restrictions in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the wake of the outbreak of the disease in a part of the country.

To prevent a further spread of the virus, WHO in collaboration with health workers in the country are quickly tracking down, testing, isolating and treating suspected cases.

The World Health Organisation has recently announced a fresh outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Two suspected cases were confirmed as Port Health officials are at alert in all of the country’s airports and surveillance has been stepped up.

This is the eighth outbreak of Ebola virus in Congo DR  since its discovery in 1976. The worst outbreak was in 2014 when the virus infected more than 28,000 and killed over 11,300 people in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia.

In November 2014, in line with WHO recommendations, the Ministry of Health of DRC and WHO declared the end of the Virus disease outbreak that started on 24 August 2014 and resulted in a total of 38 laboratory confirmed cases and 28 probable cases including 49 deaths in Boende, Equateur province.