Gambia Bird (Banjul) has been banned from serving Nigeria after authorities there claimed the airline had not done enough to curb the spread of the deadly Ebola virus. The Germania (Berlin Schönefeld) subsidiary has served Lagos from Accra, Banjul, Dakar Yoff-Léopold Sédar Senghor International, Douala, Freetown, and Monrovia Roberts.

"The NCAA has reviewed the measures put in place by your airline as contained in your letter of 30th July, 2014 and have found these measures unsatisfactory," a Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority letter seen by the AFP read. "Consequently, your flights into Nigeria have been temporarily suspended with immediate effect until such a time that you are able to put in place acceptable and satisfactory measures."

Earlier this month, ASKY Airlines (KP, Lomé) was similarly banned from serving Lagos after a Liberian national infected with the virus was found to have arrived in the country on-board one of its flights. However, the ban was subsequently overturned when airline management successfully showed that adequate protective measures were being taken.

Government in the region have begun to respond to the outbreak.

The Gambian government has once more directed Gambia Bird, Royal Air Maroc (AT, Casablanca Mohamed V), Brussels Airlines (SN, Brussels National), and Nigeria's Arik Air (W3, Lagos) to cease their respective onward services from Conakry, Freetown, and Monrovia to Banjul with immediate effect. The Ivory Coast has taken a similar step with both government and Air Côte d'Ivoire (HF, Abidjan) banning all flights to and from affected countries.

With 1,779 confirmed cases and 961 people having died from the virus, West African health officials have now tracked the outbreak's Patient Zero to have been a two-year-old boy who died in Guéckédou, a village in southeastern Guinea, on December 6 last year.