Following Nigeria’s timely
containment of the Ebola virus disease (EVD), which is awaiting the
World Health Organisation’s (WHO) certification as an Ebola-free nation,
the United States of America and Canada have dropped Nigeria from
countries whose nationals will be carefully screened at their major
airports while entering the country.
The exclusion of Nigeria from the list
has been viewed by industry watchers as another affirmation of the
country’s ability to effectively contain the deadly disease from
escalating to a national outbreak as it has in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
The US over the weekend commenced a
detailed check out screening procedure for travellers from Liberia,
Sierra Leone and Guinea at New York’s John F. Kennedy (JKF) airport and
should extend the screening to New Jersey’s Newark, Washington’s Dulles,
Chicago’s O’Hare and Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson airports, later this
week.
The new checkout screening procedures
for passengers from the Ebola-stricken nations which entails checking of
passenger’s temperature and querying of passenger’s recent whereabouts,
however, contradicts the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) advice that
passenger screening is best done when departing a country, rather than
when arriving.
Though there are currently few direct
flights from Ebola-affected countries to the U.S, as many West African
passengers arrive the U.S on connecting flights from other parts of the
world, analysts predict that the new task might be challenging but
certainly worth the stress.
Responding to Nigeria’s exclusion from
the checklist, Olumide Ohunayo, an immigration expert, said: “It’s a
refreshing news and absolute trust in measures that have been put in
place by the federal and state governments in combating the EVD.”
The latest move by the US is expected to
thoroughly scrutinise 150 travellers per day from the three most
affected countries, with the five airports estimated to receive about 94
percent of West African travellers, JFK alone accounting for around 43
percent and Washington Dulles about 22 percent.
AF News Agency
