France on Wednesday recommended that its citizens leave the African countries of Sierra Leone and Liberia because of the outbreak of Ebola there, and Air France temporarily suspended its three flights a week to Sierra Leone, according to The Associated Press.
The government said its decision was aimed at those people whose presence was not absolutely necessary, and was driven by "developments in the epidemic and the state of the health systems" in those two West African countries, the AP reported.
Air France announced that it temporarily halted its flights to Freetown, Sierra Leone because of the Ebola outbreak there and at the request of the French government, the AP reported. It said flights to Nigeria and Guinea need not be suspended.
The French national carrier said it is maintaining its flights to Conakry, Guinea, and to Lagos, Nigeria, cities it flies to once a day, according to the AP.
Referring to Ebola, the airline said, "Measures in place at airports there "guarantee ... that no passengers presenting symptoms ... can board," the AP reported.
The French government said the increasing spread of Ebola, notably in Liberia and Sierra Leone, prompted its request for suspension of Air France flights to Sierra Leone and its recommendation that French citizens leave Sierra Leone and Liberia, according to the AP.
Many regional and major airlines have suspended services to the three countries most affected by the Ebola outbreak: Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, the AP reported.
The United Nations has said the lack of flights is making it increasingly difficult to bring supplies to those countries. U.N. flights to bring humanitarian workers to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, also have faced restrictions, according to the AP.
The disease has now killed more than 1,400 people in West Africa, the AP reported. The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday it had shut a laboratory in Sierra Leone and withdrawn staff from there after a health worker there was infected.
