ST JOHN’S, Antigua (CMC) — Antigua and Barbuda has become the latest Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country to issue a ban on travellers from Ebola-affected countries in West Africa.
Director of Communication Maurice Merchant told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) that the Gaston Browne-led cabinet agreed to travel restrictions on passengers coming from Liberia, Guinea and Liberia. The deadly disease has been prevalent in West African nations.
As part of the restriction, St John’s will discontinue issuing to the three African states hardest hit by the Ebola virus. Passengers who are known to have visited those countries within the last three weeks will not be allowed entry to the country
Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Guyana have effected similar restrictions as the disease, for which there is no cure, spreads to other parts of the world including the United States and Spain.
Symptoms of the virus tend to show two to 21 days after infection. They include, high fever, headache, joint and muscle and stomach pain. An estimated 4,500 people have died from the disease and the World Health Organization (WHO) projects as many as 20,000 cases by November if efforts to curtail the disease are not stepped up.