Aviation and the Ebola epidemic in West-Africa

[sn-remember]

A slow down of growth in Liberia but an acceleration in SierraLeone .. and fears of spreading in Mali.
Hopes are on a vaccine .. let's cross fingers
From theGuardian newspaper of today , excerpt
" An experimental vaccine has triggered promising immune responses from 20 healthy volunteers in a preliminary trial, suggesting that it should protect against infection."
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/n ... rica-16000

[sn26567]

Phoenix Air, Gulfstream 3 N173PA often used for Ebola patient transport is flying over France, robably heading for AMS, where they are expecting a patient later this afternoon, a Nigerian aid worker. http://www.flightradar24.com/BAXTR98/4fa50d6

[sn26567]

The medics fighting Ebola have been named as TIME's "Person of the Year".

[Passenger]

The medics fighting Ebola have been named as TIME's "Person of the Year".

My upmost respect to them!

http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year ... rs-choice/

[sn26567]

Statement at IATA Media Day today: "Brussels Airlines' decision to continue operating to Ebola-hit countries is a challenge but nobody has been infected onboard".

At the same meeting, WHO says banning flights, closing borders in countries with Ebola negatively impacts prevention efforts and local infrastructure. There were 48 weekly flights to Sierra Leone; now there are only six following Ebola outbreak, says WTO at IATA Media Day.

Further at that meeting, WHO said that the person who took Ebola from Liberia to Nigeria by air "was really sick", yet nobody on plane got Ebola.

http://ht.ly/FFBHR

[Passenger]

Our B-Fast team has left for Guinee (N’zerekore) this morning, by an Embraer of the Belgian Air Force.

B-Fast will install a mobile lab in Guinee.

photo's:
http://deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws/binnenland/1.2187235

[Passenger]

Phoenix Air, Gulfstream 3 N173PA often used for Ebola patient transport is flying over France, robably heading for AMS, where they are expecting a patient later this afternoon, a Nigerian aid worker.

Good news: the Nigerian citizen has fully recovered and therefore has been declared ebola-free by the Dutch doctors (UMC Utrecht). He flew back to Monrovia on Monday where he will continue his work for UNMIL, the UN's operational force in Liberia.

(source : Dutch media)

[sn26567]

Ebola case confirmed in Glasgow hospital

A female healthcare worker who has just returned from West Africa has been diagnosed with Ebola and is being treated in hospital in Glasgow.

All possible contacts with the case are being investigated. The patient will be transferred to high level isolation in London as soon as possible.

The patient returned to Scotland from Sierra Leone late on Sunday via Casablanca and London Heathrow, arriving into Glasgow Airport on a British Airways flight at about 23:30.

Detailed story from BBC

This time it seems that Royal Air Maroc is the transporter.

[sn26567]

Ebola case confirmed in Glasgow hospital
....
This time it seems that Royal Air Maroc is the transporter.

Air passengers being traced after nurse contracts Ebola

Airline passengers who travelled on the same flights as a health worker who has contracted Ebola, are being traced by authorities in the UK.

The woman was diagnosed as having the disease after arriving in Glasgow on Sunday night. She had flown from Sierra Leone to Heathrow via Casablanca with Royal Air Maroc, and then from Heathrow to Glasgow with British Airways on the same day before becoming sick.

Health authorities said the risk to passengers on these flights of catching Ebola was “extremely low” but they would still be contacting all travellers to offer advice and reassurance.

There were 71 other passengers on BA flight 1478 which departed Heathrow at 21.00 on Sunday (December 28) and arrived in Glasgow at 22.20.

The unnamed health worker previously flew from Casablanca to Heathrow on Royal Air Maroc flight AT800, which arrived at Heathrow at 15.50 on Sunday before catching her connecting service to Glasgow.

Full article from Buying Business Travel

And now the missing information: From Freetown to Casablanca it was flight AT596, dep. FNA 02:30, arr. CMN 06:10.

[sn26567]

In its review of the year 2014, ATW online lauded Brussels Airlines for its contribution to the fight against Ebola:

http://atwonline.com/blog/all-2014-s-he ... call-ebola

I quote:

"But there’s another side to the Ebola story that has been far less told and which bears testimony to how life’s tragedies can bring out the best in many people – including those in this very people-focused airline industry.

It’s a little known fact that Belgium-based Brussels Airlines is the only European carrier still serving the Sierra Leone capital of Freetown. Other carriers suspended services after the Ebola outbreak, but Brussels Airlines has continued its twice-weekly Airbus A330-300 service, providing a rare and essential aircraft conduit for medical equipment and health workers between Europe and the stricken African country.

Why does Brussels Airlines do this? “We feel it is our humanitarian duty,” the carrier’s VP external communications Geert Sciot told journalists at IATA’s annual media briefing day in Geneva in mid-December.

Brussels’ decision, Sciot admitted, has not been a good one from the airline’s business perspective. “If you look at it from a marketing perspective I think it would be better to stop flying because your brand will not become better from that,” he said. “You get a lot of respect and support from the countries, from the governments, but marketing wise and for your brand, it is not the best thing to do.”

Some people have avoided flying on Brussels since it became known that it was continuing its Sierra Leone services and transporting health workers, so passenger numbers are down.

[RoMax]

Karen Walker (ATW's chief editor) as the writer of the article names it "the industry's true and most inspiring story of 2014".

[Passenger]

On 25th November 2014, an Italian doctor working in an ebola hospital in Sierra Leone was flown to Rome by a military aircraft: he was the first Italian ebola patient. On 1st January 2015, he's officially declared free of ebola. The treatment centre in Italy will give a press conference on Friday.

http://www.repubblica.it/salute/medicin ... 104149191/

[sn26567]

Ebola case confirmed in Glasgow hospital

A female healthcare worker who has just returned from West Africa has been diagnosed with Ebola and is being treated in hospital in Glasgow.

Pauline Cafferkey, the British nurse who was diagnosed with Ebola after returning from Sierra Leone, is now in a critical condition. She was placed in an isolation unit at Gartnavel Hospital in Glasgow after becoming feverish, before being transferred by RAF Hercules plane to London and on to the Royal Free's specialist treatment centre.

All the passengers who travelled with her are being traced.

Officials from Health Protection Scotland had spoken to all 71 passengers and members of crew aboard the British Airways flight from Heathrow to Glasgow.

And all 101 UK-based passengers and crew aboard the Royal Air Maroc flight from Casablanca to Heathrow had been contacted by officials from Public Health England.

The remaining 31 international passengers on the flight were being traced by international public health authorities.



More from BBC

[convair]

They might be able to trace all passengers who traveled with her. However, identifying all the people who might have been in contact with her during the 5 hours she spent at Heathrow is quite another challenge!

[SFM]

http://www.demorgen.be/buitenland/exper ... -a2192299/

An experimental ebola vaccine will be sent from Brussels Airport to Liberia today (on board SN1247, I assume).

[sn26567]

An experimental ebola vaccine will be sent from Brussels Airport to Liberia today (on board SN1247, I assume).

Indeed:

[sn26567]

Pauline Cafferkey, the British nurse who was diagnosed with Ebola after returning from Sierra Leone, is now in a critical condition. She was placed in an isolation unit at Gartnavel Hospital in Glasgow after becoming feverish, before being transferred by RAF Hercules plane to London and on to the Royal Free's specialist treatment centre.

UK nurse Pauline Cafferkey tells BBC she's "happy to be alive" as she's declared Ebola free http://bbc.in/15rSu7A

[sn-remember]

It's a pleasure for all of us to learn that the ebola threat is clearly diminishing.
However vigilance is still the keyword ..
Story from the Guardian,newspaper of today http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/j ... -for-ebola

[sn26567]

Ebola outbreak: British Airways and the British Government pushed to restart direct flights to virus-hit countries

The Government and British Airways are under pressure from politicians and charities to restart direct flights between the UK and Ebola-ravaged Sierra Leone and Liberia.

BA temporarily cancelled a route linking Heathrow to Liberia, with a stopover in Sierra Leone, last August, citing the “deteriorating” health situation, but has since extended this for an “indefinite” period.

British aid workers and UK-based West Africans can now fly to Freetown and Liberia only via Belgium or Morocco. The Armed Forces can provide a faster return; yesterday, a British military health worker suspected of contracting Ebola in Sierra Leone, following a return to the UK with the RAF, was being monitored in the Royal Free Hospital, London.

Critics who have urged BA to restart direct flights believe it is ministers, scared of hysterical Ebola-threat headlines, who are blocking the reopening of the air link. It is thought the airline considers any attempt to reopen futile, believing the Department for Transport would immediately revoke its permission to fly. Last October, Gambia Bird restarted its Gatwick to Sierra Leone route, but the DfT almost instantly blocked the flights.

Full story: http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/new ... 16121.html

[sn26567]

100+ aircrafts took off from Liege Airport to help fight Ebola

Since October 2014, 111 wide-body aircraft carrying an average of 90 tonnes of humanitarian supplies, medical equipment and pharmaceuticals have flown from Liege’s global cargo hub to help in the fight against Ebola (EVD) in West Africa.

Operators have included: Ethiopian Airlines, ANA Aviation, Global Africa Cargo, Air Cargo Global, Western Global Airlines, and many others. The operations are commissioned by leading humanitarian organizations & NGOs including MSF, the Red Cross, UNICEF, WHO and WFP, and the UN.

Most supplies left for Conakry, Freetown and Monrovia or transited through airports like Abuja, Bamako and Lagos.

Thanks to its very reactive and flexible airline partners and handlers, Liege Airport can fully cooperate with all specialist brokers and with humanitarian & relief organizations on the logistics front, endeavouring to play its small part in providing emergency logistics worldwide to assist health workers and their more noble efforts, wherever they are.

Source: Bert Selis, Cargo & Logistics Development Manager, on LinkedInj