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Ebola: US Denies Reports Of Plans To Screen Nigerian Passengers
United States Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has categorically denied rumours tha it is planning to carry out an Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) screening for Nigerian passengers flying into the United States.
The CDC said that such attempt will be counterproductive especially in view of the fact encomium it recently showered on Nigeria for the way it handled the disease spread.
Nigeria’s Ambassador to the US, Professor Ade Adefuye said that the CDC is impressed with Nigeria and is even proposing inviting the nation’s health minister Prof Onyebuchi Chukwu to the US for collaborative efforts in fighting the scourge.
However that plan was shelved when Chukwu announced Nigeria has donated $3 million to help fight the Ebola virus in the affected countries as well as collaborate with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in combating the virus.
The US therefore is prepared to work with Chukwu and the ECOWAS in its plan to assist affected countries in the effort to fight the virus. “The earlier plan to collaborate with Chukwu through the AU,” Frieden said, “has been shelved. The emphasis right now is on ECOWAS.”
Frieden appeared on television on Friday and saying prohibiting air travel between the U.S. and West Africa, where the Ebola outbreak is most widespread. And in response to a question on the risks of such plan: “ Restricting travel between the U.S. and West Africa would likely “backfire” and put Americans more at risk of contracting Ebola,”
Frieden added that that such a restriction would likely be ineffective and would make it harder for health officials to root out the virus.
“The only way we’re going to get to zero risk is by stopping the outbreak at the source” in West Africa, Frieden said
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