Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development Festus Keyamo has ordered a 21-day no-fly restriction on 46 people identified as contacts of Nigeria’s confirmed Ebola patient.
Keyamo announced the directive on Wednesday, October 21, after a virtual meeting with the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammad Ali Pate, to discuss containment measures.
He said the list comprised 44 people who encountered the infected woman at a hospital after she developed symptoms, alongside two members of her domestic staff.
“Whilst efforts are ongoing to isolate them for now until there is certainty they had not been infected with the virus,” Keyamo said, aviation authorities must prevent them from travelling by air for at least 21 days.
He directed the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to “immediately inform all local and international airlines” of the restriction.
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Keyamo also instructed the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to strengthen surveillance at international airports through enhanced health screening, temperature checks, travel history monitoring and digital health declarations.
The restriction follows the Federal Government’s confirmation on Tuesday, October 20, of an imported case of Ebola Bundibugyo virus disease in the Federal Capital Territory.
The patient, who had recently travelled from Uganda, developed symptoms on October 7 and sought treatment at a private hospital in Abuja on October 11. Laboratory tests confirmed the infection on October 20, and she was placed in isolation.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) is coordinating contact tracing and containment efforts with the Federal Ministry of Health, the World Health Organization and other relevant agencies.
The 46 people have been identified as contacts of the patient; their inclusion on the no-fly list does not mean they have tested positive for Ebola.