By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
The government of Sierra Leone has announced the suspension of all flights to the country. The announcement was made by the Ministry of Transport and Aviation on Thursday as part of moves to curb the spread of the global Coronavirus pandemic.
The decision will come into effect on Saturday, 21st of March when the last set of scheduled flights is expected to land.
Government says it has already issued a 72-hour notice to airlines across the world about this latest move.
The suspension of flights is among several other gradual measures the government has been putting in place over the last one week in efforts to keep the virus at bay.
According to the statement released by the Ministry of Transport and Aviation, the suspension will only be relaxed for emergency flights.
“Airline operators are hereby requested to strictly adhere to this suspension notice and make all arrangements to ensure that the cut off date will be respected,” it said.
The statement continued: “the notice is in line with enhanced preparedness measures as directed by President Julius Maada Bio against the Coronavirus”
No date has been fixed for the resumption of flights. Prior to the announcement, airlines like Air Maroc and Brussels Airlines had cancelled their flights to the country.
Government officials say Air France has also been considering similar options even before the announcement on Thursday.
The country has not registered a single case of Coronavirus as of Thursday. Neighbors Liberia and Guinea have recorded a total of three cases.
On Wednesday evening, in what was described by witnesses as a dramatic scene at the Lungi International Airport, four Japanese citizens suspected to be displaying signs and symptoms of the virus were prevented from disembarking from a Kenya Airways flight that travelled to the country from Liberia.
On Thursday, Minister of Health Dr Alpha Wurie said they had up to 200 people in quarantine, more than 95% of whom travelled to the country through flights.
The closure of the country’s airspace has not been replicated on land. The Minister of Finance, Jacob Jusu Saffa, said currently the country couldn’t afford to close its borders its two neighbors for economic reasons.
He said the sea port will also remain open for the time.
“We cannot afford to close our borders now. The borders will remain open because we have to build a stock of imported items,” he said.
Saffa said some of the essential supplies the country would need in a case of a total air, water and land border shutdown, would be food, medicine and fuel.
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