As part of the efforts of the Federal Government to stop the spread of
the highly infectious and transmissible Human Metapneumovirus also
known as the HMPV into the country, the Thermal scanners for the screening of air passengers would be activated at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos on Wednesday. African Travel News (ABTNEWS) can authoritatively report.
The machines which are similar to those used to screen passengers
during Corvid 19 pandemic, would be activated at arrival points of the
two terminals of the Lagos international airport to screen arrival
passengers.
Reliable sources within the airport confirmed to our correspondent
that though six machines are expected to be deplored in the two
terminals of the airport, but only two of the machines are ready as at
the time of filing this report, but the remaining four would be
deplored on or before Friday this week; to screen both arrival and
departure passengers.
Our correspondent also learnt that the Minister of Health and Social Development, Prof Mohammed Ali Pate directed that commencement of screening of the passengers from countries where the disease is prevalent on Monday, ABTNEWS however learnt that this could not effectively take off becauseof the absence of the screening machines.
HMPV, a respiratory virus first identified by Dutch researchers in
2001, has recently seen a sharp rise in cases, sparking concerns about
a potential pandemic similar to COVID-19. However, experts have
emphasized that this is not a newly emerging virus but one that has
existed in nature for over two decades.
A health worker who spoke with our correspondent on the development,
however appealed to people to be calm, cautious and take precautions,
assuring that the federal government, through the Ministry of Health
is doing everything possible to up surveillance processes
