Nigeria screens air passengers over Ebola virus

The Nigerian government has started temperature screening of passengers arriving from places of high risk of Ebola to contain the spread of the virus.
Spokesperson for the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) Yakubu Dati made the disclosure in an interview with Xinhua in Lagos on Monday on the update of the virus in the country.
He said screening and monitoring is being done at all major international airports in the country.
The screening entails checking passengers' temperatures with a hand-held machine, Dati added, noting that any passengers that passed through affected countries have to go through the screening.
"We have instructed every airline that is connected to all the countries that have the virus to monitor the passengers that will board their flights," he added.
"This is to ensure that they don't fly people that have the virus into Nigeria, they should set up a medical team; that is what happens when there are such epidemics. If we don't do that, we also stand the risk of being banned from going to other countries," the FAAN spokesperson told Xinhua.
He said it was expected that in the future, airlines would not allow sick passengers to board their flights without proper medical report.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the disease has killed 729 people and affected more than 1,300 this year.
The Ebola virus, which can incubate for up to 21 days, has a fatality rate of up to 90 percent.
The WHO defines the disease, formerly known as Ebola hemorrhagic fever, as "a severe, often fatal illness" and "one of the world's most virulent diseases."