Kenya has become the latest country to ban travelers from parts of Ebola-hit west Africa as Nigeria scrambled to stop the deadly disease spreading through the continent’s most populous nation.
Kenyan Minister of Health James Macharia on Saturday said that the country is closing its borders to travelers from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone — the nations most affected by the worst-ever Ebola outbreak.
National carrier Kenya Airways also said it would suspend its flights to Freetown and Monrovia when the ban takes effect on Wednesday.
Photo: EPA
The move comes amid an international appeal to help contain the deadly virus, which has already killed 1,145 people across west Africa this year.
In Spain, where a missionary priest died recently of Ebola after being infected in Liberia, another person was being tested for the disease and was placed in hospital isolation on Saturday.
Nigerian Minister of Health Onyebuchi Chukwu told reporters on Saturday that 12 people have so far tested positive for the virus, including the four who died, while 189 others are under surveillance in Lagos and six in the southeastern town of Enugu.
“As you are aware, the patients in treatment have now been moved to the new 40-bed capacity isolation ward provided by the Lagos state government,” he said.
He said five of the patients have almost fully recovered, but added that an experimental drug, nano silver, intended to be administered on the patients was not approved by the Nigerian National Health Research Ethics Committee.
He also said the first Nigerian to be diagnosed with the virus, a female doctor, had been discharged.
Nigeria has trained 800 volunteers to help in the fight against Ebola following an appeal by authorities in megacity Lagos for volunteers to make up for a shortage of medical personnel because of a six-week doctors’ strike over pay.
“People have heeded our call for service,” spokesman for Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola Hakeem Bello said.
“We have trained about 800 volunteers in the area of contact tracing, sensitization and treatment of the Ebola disease,” he added.
Experts say Ebola is raging out of control in the region, with the WHO declaring the epidemic an international health emergency and appealing for global aid.
The disease erupted in the forested zone straddling the borders of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia earlier this year and spread to Nigeria last month.
The districts of Kailahun and Kenema in eastern Sierra Leone have become the new epicenters of the outbreak, with charities and health authorities battling to keep it from spreading.
“You cannot mess about here: This virus will kill you. One mistake, one wrong move, and you’re dead — that’s it,” a senior aid worker in Kailahun said.
However, officials fear an outbreak in the key regional hub of Nigeria could be far more dangerous, and US health authorities pledged this month to send extra personnel and resources.
Volunteers have so far been deployed to 57 districts of Lagos State, but more are needed, particularly to treat those already infected with the disease, Bello said.
The Lagos State Government has stepped up a media campaign to raise awareness of how to prevent the spread of the disease, including radio and television advertisements and public health announcements.
Nigerian doctors have been on a nationwide strike since July 1 to demand a pay rise and better working conditions.
Medical charity Doctors Without Borders, on Friday warned Ebola is spreading faster than authorities can handle and could take six months to bring under control.
Draconian travel restrictions have been imposed across West Africa and several airlines have canceled flights to affected countries in a bid to stop it spreading beyond the region.
Nigeria has also withdrawn its athletes from the Youth Olympics in Nanjing, China, as a result of the outbreak, state media reported as the Games opened on Saturday.
The International Olympic Committee has barred athletes from Ebola-hit countries from competing in pool events and combat sports, affecting three athletes.
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