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NAIROBI, KENYA: The national carrier Kenya Airways (KQ) will not stop its flight to the four West African Countries stricken by Ebola despite the World Health Organization declaring the disease outbreak an emergency.
According to a multi-agency team that included incoming KQ boss Mbuvi Ngunze and Health Cabinet Secretary James Macharia, the situation in the four countries is not a high risk for the country to stop its operations at their airports.
Mbuvi and Macharia who were speaking during a media briefing about the highly contagious disease said that other countries in the East African Region have not also stopped their planes from flying to Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone where more than 1800 infections and 1000 deaths have been experienced for the last few months.
The team that also consisted of Kenya Medical Research Institute boss and World Health Organization representative in the country Custodia Mandlhate pointed out that the decision on whether the national carrier will halt its flights in those countries will only be arrived at if the disease gets out of hand.
"Not all airlines have stopped their fleets to the West African countries. We are monitoring the situation on a daily basis and we will make a decision on whether to stop our operations if the reports indicate that there is a high risk of transmitting the disease. It will be a decision that will be arrived at by the Government and not the Company," Mbuvi said.
Macharia said that the country is currently free from the disease and that the major concern is about the porous borders that can also be a big risk if they are not monitored.
"We have not had any case of Ebola so far since the first case was reported on March 31 this year. If we ban KQ from flying to the countries, Air Rwanda and Ethiopia are still in operation and this means that the other airlines can still fly the travelers to their countries and they can access Kenya through the boarder points. Ebola has not been spread from the airports, we are just being cautious," The CS said.
World Health organization has grouped Kenya as number 2 in high risk of transition due to the human traffic to those countries. A total of 76 flights by different airlines that access the airports are made on a weekly basis.
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Macharia said that, "There is a huge risk due to human traffic and thus we must be ready to mitigate and deal with the disease if it is detected," adding that screening will continue until the threat is over.
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