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.
