Kenya to close borders to travellers from Ebola states

<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #505050; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px;"></span><br /><div class="caption full-width" style="clear: both; color: #505050; display: block; float: none; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; position: relative;"><br /><img alt="An medical worker feeds a child who is infected with the Ebola virus at a Medecins Sans Frontieres facility in Kailahun, Sierra Leone - 15 August 2014" height="351" src="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/76988000/jpg/_76988187_76984833.jpg" style="-webkit-user-select: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #505050; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 16px; position: relative;" width="624" /><span style="color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; width: 624px;"><br /></span><span style="color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; width: 624px;"><br /></span><div style="clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify; text-rendering: auto;">Kenya's health secretary said Kenyans and medical workers flying in from those states would still be allowed in.</div><div style="clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify; text-rendering: auto;">Kenyan Airways says it will stop flights to Liberia and Sierra Leone when the ban comes in on Wednesday.</div><div style="clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify; text-rendering: auto;">The World Health Organisation (WHO) says Kenya is at "high risk" from Ebola because it is a major transport hub.</div><div style="clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify; text-rendering: auto;">The epidemic began in Guinea in February and has since spread to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria.</div><span style="color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-align: justify; width: 624px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-size: 17px; line-height: 18px;">On Friday, the death toll rose to 1,145 after the WHO said 76 new deaths had been reported in the two days to 13 August. There have been 2,127 cases reported in total.</span></span><span style="color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-align: justify; width: 624px;"><br /></span><div style="clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify; text-rendering: auto;">Earlier, Kenya's health ministry said four suspected cases of Ebola in the country had tested negative for the virus.</div><div style="clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify; text-rendering: auto;">The cases had involved a Liberian national and two Nigerians who had recently travelled to Kenya as well as a Zimbabwean.</div><div style="clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify; text-rendering: auto;">Kenyan Airways said it had decided to cancel flights to Liberia and Sierra Leone's capitals after advice from Kenya's government.</div><div style="clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify; text-rendering: auto;">It said all passengers booked on the suspended flights would get a full refund.</div><div style="clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify; text-rendering: auto;">The company said its flights to Nigeria were not affected by the suspension.</div><span class="cross-head" style="color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.231em; font-weight: bold; line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 16px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">'Strict checks'</span><div style="clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify; text-rendering: auto;">Announcing the government's decision, Kenyan Health Minister James Macharia said it was "in the interest of public health".</div><div style="clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify; text-rendering: auto;">He warned that Kenyans and health workers who had returned from the three west African states would face "strict checks" and would be quarantined if necessary.</div><div style="clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify; text-rendering: auto;">On Friday, medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said the outbreak would take at least six months to bring under control.</div><div style="clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify; text-rendering: auto;">MSF President Joanne Liu said the situation was "deteriorating faster, and moving faster, than we can respond to".</div><div style="clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify; text-rendering: auto;">The WHO also admitted that the scale of the outbreak appeared to be "vastly underestimated" and said "extraordinary measures" were needed to contain it.</div><div style="clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify; text-rendering: auto;">Ebola is transmitted by direct contact with the body fluids of a person who is infected.</div><div style="clear: left; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; font-size: 1.077em; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify; text-rendering: auto;">Initial flu-like symptoms can lead to external haemorrhaging from areas such as eyes and gums, and internal bleeding which can lead to organ failure.</div><span style="color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Arial, Helmet, Freesans, sans-serif; line-height: 16px; text-align: justify; width: 624px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-size: 17px; line-height: 18px;">The WHO says the risk of transmission of Ebola during air travel remains low.</span> </span></div>

east_africa Kenya to close borders to travellers from Ebola states

Kenya's health secretary said Kenyans and medical workers flying in from those states would still be allowed in. Kenyan Airways says it ...

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