NEW YORK – An interactive map plotting the airline flights originating in Monrovia, Liberia, makes clear why international health officials are concerned Europe is the next place where the Ebola virus could spread.

Already, one case of Ebola has been confirmed in Spain, and the Independent newspaper in the United Kingdom is reporting scientific analysis concluding there is a 75 percent chance Ebola will hit France by Oct. 24 and a 50 percent chance it will hit Britain by the end of the month..

The interactive air-travel map</b? shows Europe is the most common transit point for international travelers traveling from Liberia to the U.S.

Flights from Monrovia, Liberia, easily connect with international flights to Lisbon, Madrid, Paris, Brussels, Frankfurt, Bologna, Rome and London.

Flights from Brussels regularly connect to New York’s JFK, Dallas-Fort Worth and Chicago in the United States along with destinations such as Tel-Aviv, Montreal, Toronto and New Delhi.

How easy is it for someone from Liberia that is already infected with Ebola to leave the country by air?

As demonstrated by the case of Thomas Eric Duncan – the Liberian infected with Ebola who died this week in a Dallas hospital – the authorities in Monrovia screening departing passengers have no way to know if someone claiming to have had no contact with Ebola-infected individuals is lying.

Furthermore, since the disease can take up to 21 days to incubate before symptoms manifest, a person infected with Ebola could easily pass through security in Monrovia undetected.

How easy is it to depart from Monrovia to travel internationally?

Three flights a day depart Monrovia for Casablanca, the main connecting airport for European flights.

One flight each day flies non-stop from Monrovia to Brussels.

As the interactive map demonstrates, there are direct flights connecting Casablanca with New York’s JFK International Airport, just as there are flights from Dakar, Senegal, to Dulles International in Washington, D.C., as well as to JFK.

As WND reported Oct. 2, there are hundreds of ways to fly from Liberia to the United States and connect to every airport in the country.

A spreadsheet listing connecting flights from Monrovia through Casablanca shows more than 100 destinations, including cities in Africa, the Middle East, South America, Russia, Europe and the United States.

Both the United Nations’ World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta continue to insist a restriction on air travel from West Africa would only increase the spread of the disease. The agencies contend it would make it more difficult for international health authorities to get qualified medical personnel and supplies to the affected nations.

WND has also reported an international team of scientists argued a reduction in airline travel of as much as 80 percent would only delay the international spread of Ebola by three to four weeks at most.

Interactive Map by Jeff Eisman – Geographic Information System – GIS – Consultant – jeismangis@gmail.com.

Article printed from WND: http://www.wnd.com

URL to article: http://www.wnd.com/2014/10/heres-where-ebola-could-spread-next/