West African states should re-open their borders and end flight bans put in place to halt the spread of Ebola, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said on Thursday.
The ECOWAS countries and airlines will make their own decisions on flight bans and borders, but the view of the main regional body, expressed at a meeting of ECOWAS health ministers in Ghana's capital, is likely to prove influential.
"We must implement containment measures but we must not implement measures that will isolate or ostracise the affected countries," Ghana President John Mahama, who is also ECOWAS's current chairman, told the meeting.
"Excessive restrictions of travel and border closures will adversely affect the economies of the sub-region," he said.
West African governments have implemented a patchwork of measures in a bid to stem the spread of the recent Ebola outbreak, which has killed more than 1,550 people.
Some including Ivory Coast and Gambia have stopped airlines from allowing passengers to disembark if they have first come from Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, the countries hardest hit by the outbreak.
IMF
The worst ever outbreak of the Ebola disease is likely to lead to "sharply" lower growth in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone and raise financing needs in all three West African countries, an IMF spokesman said on Thursday.
At least 1,500 people have died of the deadly hemorrhagic virus since it was detected in the remote jungles of southeast Guinea in March and spread quickly to neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone. Five people have also died in Nigeria.
"The Ebola outbreak is having an acute macroeconomic and social impact on three already fragile countries in West Africa," IMF spokesman Gerry Rice told reporters.
"We are actively working with all three countries to prepare a preliminary economic assessment of the impact of the Ebola crisis, and additional financing support that may be required."
REUTERS