The Kwara Muslims Pilgrims Welfare Board said on Monday that 1,957 intending pilgrims and 10 officials from the state for the 2014 hajj would be screened for the Ebola virus.

The Executive Secretary of the Board, Hajia Fatima Abolore Jimoh, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ilorin that the pilgrims and officials would be screened before they depart for the holy land.

She said the screening for Ebola became imperative in view of the panic caused by the outbreak of the disease in some parts of the country and the international attention it created.

he Executive Secretary, who did not give a specific date for the screening, said any intending pilgrim or official who tested positive would not make the trip.

Jimoh said that the pilgrims and officials would be screened twice at the Hajj transit camp in llorin and at the llorin lnternational Airport before their departure.

She said the Board had consulted the state Primary Heathcare Development Agency and other medical experts who would help in the screening.

Jimoh urged the medical officers for the screening not to play politics with the exercise in order to avoid tarnishing the image of the state and the country at the holyland.

"Anybody, no matter how highly placed, that test positive to Ebola, would not make the journey", she said.

NAN recalls that about three weeks ago, fear gripped several residents of Kwara over suspected outbreak of the Ebola virus disease.

When NAN visited the office of the board in llorin on Monday, screening forms were being distributed to some intending pilgrims. (NAN)