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Kenya told to lift travel bans amid high risk of Ebola

Kenya and other countries restricting travel to and from Ebola-hit countries are under intense pressure to lift the bans, despite a new forecast showing the country to be at high risk of importing the disease.

The UN Security Council has called on all member countries to remove the restrictions to facilitate delivery of assistance to the affected countries.

The new forecast by the North-eastern University in United States puts Kenya among 16 countries at the greatest risk of importing Ebola through air travel before the end of this month.

Over the weekend, the university predicted that with the current level of air travel, Kenya and other 15 countries, some outside Africa, are in a slight danger of importing the Ebola virus before the end of this month.

On top of the list are Ghana, Gambia, UK, US and Morocco, with the forecast pegged on the volume of air travel between the countries and West Africa.

If air travel is reduced by 80 per cent in these countries, the arrival of the virus could be delayed by about three and a half weeks, said the university in a statement.

However, Health Cabinet Secretary James Macharia said Kenya is not about to lift the ban on West Africa travellers but will be reviewing the situation on a weekly basis.

“We are still monitoring the situation to assess the risks. But we will soon make a decision on the flights and travel bans. We agree in principle to lift the ban but only after we are fully satisfied that it is safe to do so without compromising Kenyans’ health,” Macharia told a regional meeting on Ebola in Nairobi last week.

 BORDER SUSPECTS

World Health Organisation Regional Director for Africa Luis Gomes Sambo told the meeting that countries that  have suspended flights and banned travellers from the region are compromising the deployment of international staff and supplies required to tackle the outbreak.

Head of disease control at the Ministry of Health William Maina however said the country has to be on high alert. “As has been demonstrated in the Ebola outbreak in Nigeria, it is evident that air travel presents a real danger in the transmission of the disease and we have to take the necessary safeguards,” said Maina. “The reason for the high alerts is that we do not want to leave anything to chance. We are testing even border suspects,” Maina added.

Maina said although Kenya has a Sh671 million war chest against the disease, it faces some challenges especially from foreigners who are traveling from the affected countries to a third nation before coming to Kenya. He noted that in some cases, the foreigners are hiding their travel history.

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