Our flights are safe, says Kenya Airways over Ebola fears

A Kenya Airways Boeing 777-300ER at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. US planemaker Boeing said about 533,000 new commercial pilots would be needed worldwide in the next two decades to cater to a growing global fleet. FILE PHOTO | DIANA NGILA | NATION

What you need to know:

  • Kenya Airways flies 44 times a week to 10 cities in West Africa. They include Cotonou in Benin, Monrovia in Liberia, Lagos in Nigeria and Accra in Ghana.
  • The spread of Ebola is yet to be declared an epidemic and no travel ban to affected regions has been recommended. The virus has killed 660 people since it first emerged this year in Guinea. Cases have also been reported in Nigeria, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Kenya Airways flights from West Africa are safe, the national carrier has said amid concerns that passengers from the region could transmit the deadly Ebola virus.

Dr Jane Munyi, the Head of Medical and Occupational Health at KQ, told the Nation that no one showing signs of the virus would be allowed on board and that its crew had been given protective clothing.

“It is also important to note that Ebola is transmitted by contact with body fluids of an ailing patient.

“However, during the incubation period, the infected person is well enough to travel and cannot transmit infection,” she told the public in an e-mail to the Nation.

BECOMES BEDRIDDEN

“When the symptoms set in, after this period, the person is too sick to travel and soon becomes bedridden. Hence, the chances of being infected on board have been estimated to be minimal.”

Kenya Airways flies 44 times a week to 10 cities in West Africa. They include Cotonou in Benin, Monrovia in Liberia, Lagos in Nigeria and Accra in Ghana.

Other destinations are Dakar (Senegal), Freetown (Sierra Leone), Yaoundé and Douala (Cameroon), Bamako (Mali) and Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire.

The spread of Ebola is yet to be declared an epidemic and no travel ban to affected regions has been recommended. The virus has killed 660 people since it first emerged this year in Guinea. Cases have also been reported in Nigeria, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

It is a highly contagious disease that can fell victims quickly by causing severe fever, muscle pain, vomiting, diarrhoea and, in some cases, organ failure and continual bleeding.

According to the World Health Organisation, the disease is fatal in up to 90 per cent of cases and is spread mainly through body fluids including sweat.
An infected person does not pose danger until symptoms begin showing. The virus has no vaccine, hence the most important safety measure is to isolate a person showing symptoms.