The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, has directed the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to strengthen Ebola response and surveillance protocols across all international airports.

Keyamo disclosed this in a post on X after holding a virtual meeting with the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammad Ali Pate, over the Ebola outbreak.

He said Pate provided a list of 44 people who had contact with the affected person at a hospital after she developed symptoms, alongside two additional people who work as her domestic staff.

The minister said efforts were ongoing to isolate the 46 individuals until it could be established that they had not been infected with the virus.

He added that the aviation authorities were required to place them on a no-fly list for at least 21 days, which he described as the period within which symptoms were normally expected to appear.

“Whilst efforts are ongoing to isolate them for now until there is certainty they had not been infected with the virus, the Aviation authorities are required to put them on a no-fly list for at least 21 days,” Keyamo stated.

The minister said he had directed the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to notify local and international airlines immediately.

“I have therefore directed the NCAA to immediately inform all local and international airlines of this development,” he said.

Keyamo also directed FAAN to strengthen its surveillance and response measures at international airports to reduce the risk of the virus spreading through air travel.

He said the measures being implemented include enhanced health screenings, temperature checks, travel history tracking and digital health declarations.

According to the minister, the measures also involve closer cooperation among relevant agencies.

“Measures already being implemented by FAAN include enhanced health screenings, temperature checks, travel history tracking, digital health declarations, and strict inter-agency coordination with the NCDC following regional outbreak alerts earlier,” he said.