Ebola disrupts travel

The fear of Ebola has resulted in a number of countries and some airlines restricting travel.

According to a notice from a Malawian bank (name withheld) to a client, countries that have implemented travel restrictions are Gabon, Cape Verde, Rwanda, Senegal, Chad, South Africa, Botswana, Kenya and Namibia.

Gobon, Senegal, Cameroon, Cote d’voire, Gambia, Nigeria and Namibia have implemented Ebola-related restrictions while Asky Airlines (Togo), Arik Air (Nigeria), Gambia Bird, Kenya Airways, British Airways, Ceiba Intercontinental, Emirates Air and Senegal Airlines have suspended flights to and from Ebola affected countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Korean Air has gone further by suspending flights to and from Kenya.

The notice also states that some airlines have modified their routes. These are Royal Air Maroc and Brussels Airlines.

Entry and exit health screening is now in place in Botswana, Burkina Faso, Chad, Cote d’voire, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Namibia, South Africa and Sierra Leone.

The bank is informing its clients “to defer non-essential travel to Ebola affected areas, reconfirm bookings on regional lines, allow additional time for medical screening and not travel when one is sick”.

Minister of Health Jean Kalirani once told a media briefing in Lilongwe that government has put strict measures in order to make sure that the country is safe from any outbreak of the disease.

Ebola is an infectious and generally fatal disease marked by fever and severe internal bleeding, spread through contact with infected body fluids by a filovirus ( Ebola virus ), whose normal host species is unknown. Over one thousand people have died of the disease mostly in West Africa.