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Flights To Liberia, Sierra Leone Are Suspended Over The Ebola Virus

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Officials from Arik Air on Sunday said flight operations to Monrovia in Liberia, and Freetown in Sierra-Leone, would be suspended beginning on Monday. The statement from airline officials comes following the first Ebola virus death in Nigeria that occurred on Friday.

Airline officials publicly confirmed their decision to suspend the flights in Lagos. This story of the suspensions comes from the Abuja-based Leadership.

The announcement came in a statement issued late Sunday, and signed by Mr Ola Adebanji, the airline's Head of Corporate Communications, in Lagos.

The suspension, he said, would be in force until further notice.

The News Agency of Nigeria had reported the first Ebola virus death in Lagos involved a Liberian national.

The man had flown into Lagos last Monday on a foreign airline from Monrovia, via Lome in Togo.

Since Saturday, Nigerian health officials have been on high alert, with the help of coordination by other governments, tracking down passengers who had shared the flight on board with the infected man. 

Nigerian officials are not alone in taking precautionary steps to stem wider spread of the deadly disease. Also taking extraordinary measures in recent days are officials from the Gambian Government.

They have reportedly took the proactive decision to stop airlines, including those of Arik Air, from transporting in-bound passengers from Monrovia, Conakry in Guinea, and Freetown into the Gambia’s capital city of Banjul, that nation’s main center of international transport.   

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PUBLIC HEALTH