Does Mauritius need to cancel flights to and from Nairobi ? Ebola is coming closer to Mauritius as Kenya has been declared at high risk by the World Health Organization two days ago. The immediate result has been a suspension of Korean Airways flights to Kenya as a matter of precaution one day ago. We may therefore need: 1) To take quick decisions whether we should do the same thing with Air Mauritius by canceling flights to Kenya to prevent as much as possible any risk of contamination 2) Prepare a contingency plan for Mauritius in case one Ebola case is detected in Mauritius as all flights to Mauritius may then eventually be cancelled causing a real havoc in an island which depends on airlines to be connected to the world. We should not underestimate the risks when making any decision to cancel flights from and to Nairobi, both for the life of our citizens and our economic survival. We must not forget the Chikungunya episode when a far less dangerous epidemic had very important impacts on our touristic sector. This time, we are talking about a life threatening disease with up to 90% death probability. These news come at a time when Medecins Sans Frontieres and the WHO confirmed a few hours ago that the figures may have been underestimated and that the situation with Ebola may be worse than previously thought. We need to protect our citizens and think about the dramatic consequences of total isolation and state of emergency in case Ebola reaches our small island. When we take this parameter into consideration, I think that the decision of canceling flights from and to Kenya seems logical. We equally need to monitor the situation closely in order to take further steps if necessary. I cannot imagine the situation for an island which is so dependent on the world for its own survival if this threat is not taken seriously...
Posted on: Fri, 15 Aug 2014 19:45:49 +0000
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