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Kenya Moves To Deny Entry From Ebola Hotspots

August 16, 2014

Cabinet Secretary of Health, Mr. James Macharia, announced the decision as a temporary measure which will take effect beginning midnight on Tuesday, August 19th, 2014. The precautionary measure will not apply to Kenyan nationals nor medical workers.

In a reversal to a previous position, the Kenyan government announced today that it will be restricting entry of travellers from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

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Kenya Cabinet Health Secretary

Cabinet Secretary of Health, Mr. James Macharia, announced the decision as a temporary measure which will take effect beginning midnight on Tuesday, August 19th, 2014. The precautionary measure will not apply to Kenyan nationals nor medical workers.

Following suit, Kenyan Airways has announced a decision to suspend flights to Liberia and Sierra Leone beginning Tuesday, August 19th, 2014 and will be refunding tickets of  air travellers affected by the flight suspension.

Although Kenya has previously been identified by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as having a high risk of experiencing Ebola within its boundaries for being a major transit hub, it has also stressed that the risk of Ebola transmission during air travel was low.

On Tuesday, Director of WHO Global Capacity Alert and Response, Dr Isabelle Nuttal reaffirmed that Ebola was not an airborne disease and could only be transmitted by direct contact with the body fluids of an ebola infected patient.

According to the US-based Centers for Disease Control suspected case deaths of Ebola stands at 1145 with a total confirmed case count of 2127.

 

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PUBLIC HEALTH