By Addis Getachew
ADDIS ABABA
Attendees of an emergency meeting of the African Union (A.U.)'s executive council held to address Africa's recent Ebola outbreak have agreed to lift a ban on the cross-border movement of people among member states.
"We have agreed that countries allow people to move," Ncosazana Dlamini-Zuma, chairperson of the A.U. Commission, told reporters on Monday.
Meeting participants also recommended that member states put screening mechanisms in place as a means of containing the deadly virus.
No timetable has been given, however, for lifting the ban on cross-border movement.
Since the first case was reported several months ago, Ebola has claimed more than 2,000 lives in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
An estimated 4,000 cases of Ebola infection have been documented this year.
Monday's meeting was attended by senior government officials, along with the representatives of various organizations and civil society associations.
Most foreign ministers, however, failed to show up to the executive council meeting, which are usually held at the ministerial level.
Ebola, a tropical fever that first appeared in 1976 in Sudan and the DRC, can be transmitted to humans from wild animals.
It also reportedly spreads through contact with the body fluids of infected persons or of those who have died of the disease.
The World Health Organization has described Ebola as "one of the most virulent" viruses in the world.
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