To keep the deadly Ebola epidemic at bay, regional countries are urging citizens to refrain from nonessential travel to and from the threat’s epicenter in West Africa.

The disease has so far killed an estimated 1,415 people in Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Nigeria and East African Community states have increased surveillance by establishing screening centres at airports.

The Ministry of Health, in a statement issued yesterday, urged citizens and all people living in Rwanda to refrain from all nonessential travel to and from the West African countries.  

"To protect the health of all residents and visitors of Rwanda, anyone who has travelled to the Republic of Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone within the last 22 days will be: screened on arrival, and be monitored for 21 days,” Nathan Mugume, head of division at Rwanda Health Communication Centre, said in the statement, noting the decision was in line with what is happening in other East African states.

Over the weekend, Kenya’s Health Cabinet Secretary, James Macharia, said the country would close its borders to travellers from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Tanzania’s health ministry has also advised citizens to postpone all travel to countries where the disease has been detected.

The precautions

Before boarding flights to Rwanda, Mugume said, all passengers from countries affected by the Ebola epidemic are screened by health professionals and, anyone who presents symptoms linked to Ebola will not be allowed to board any RwandAir plane.

Last week, the World Health Organisation maintained that the risk of transmission of Ebola hemorrhagic fever during air travel remains low.

But at the weekend, Kenya Airways, the flag carrier of Kenya, suspended flights to Liberia’s capital Monrovia and Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown.

Kenya Airways said it took the decision on the advice of Kenya’s Ministry of Health.

RwandAir has direct weekly flights to and from Lagos, Nigeria, and other West African cities including Libreville (Gabon) not in the Ebola epicenter.

Asked if they too have contemplated suspending flights to West Africa, John Mirenge, the chief executive of RwandAir, said the national carrier does not fly to the destinations Kenya Airways stopped flying to.

However, he explained that at the moment, halting flights to Lagos, Nigeria is not an option.

"We have in conjunction with Minisante [the ministry of health] put in place preventive measures. We will continue monitoring the situation on the ground,” Mirenge said.

The WHO has urged governments not to impose blanket bans on trade and travel on Ebola-affected countries after Kenya joined a growing number of countries and airlines severing links to the most affected West African states.

Dr Ruhakana Rugunda, Uganda’s health minister, also said yesterday that his government had advised nationals against nonessential travels to the Ebola-hit states.

Foreign airlines

Meanwhile, Korean Air, the flag carrier of South Korea, has suspended its service to Kenya, while Cameroon has suspended all flights from all four Ebola-affected countries.

Several other carriers, including British Airways and Emirates Airlines, have already suspended flights to Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia.

Arik Air, a Nigerian airline operating a domestic and international flight network, and is also the national carrier of Sierra Leone, and ASKY Airlines, a passenger airline operating out of its hub at Lomé-Tokoin Airport, in Togo, also suspended flights to and from the three countries.

Nigeria became the fourth Ebola-affected country after a Liberian-American man reportedly flew to Lagos and infected several people in the city home to nearly 20 million people before he died.

Ebola is a deadly hemorrhagic fever caused by a virus that is transmitted through contact with body fluids of infected persons. The strain has a fatality rate of up to 90 per cent.

The infection is transmitted by direct contact with the blood, body fluids and tissues of infected animals or people.