U.S. President Barack Obama revealed on Monday that his administration is developing a new screening scheme for airline passengers entering and exiting the nation as well as West African countries.

The U.S. government is set to augment the current airline screening protocols to initiate early detection of the Ebola virus upon its entry into the country, though reports indicate that there is the possibility of a ban on flights to and from Ebola-stricken countries in West Africa.

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In his statement, Obama emphasized the importance of following existing protocols religiously and noted the need to include additional airline passenger screenings in both the United States and the West African countries.

"The ability of people who are infected who could carry that across borders is something that we have to take extremely seriously," he said.

On the other hand, Obama cited that prohibiting flights from West Africa, which several U.S. officials called for, would slow the battle against Ebola with White House spokesperson Josh Earnest noting that a move like that would definitely impede transport systems for sending supplies and medical personnel to the worst-hit countries.

Meanwhile, the Airlines for America trade group declared its intent to meet with health and safety officials on Monday in order to discuss improvement of existing screening procedures as well as possible additional safety measures.

Passengers set to leave Ebola-stricken countries such as Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea are asked to fill out a questionnaire and to declare whether they have symptoms like high fever or whether they came in contact with a diagnosed Ebola patient.

In Liberia, airline passengers are initially checked for high fever.

According to reports, checking passengers' temperatures upon their arrival at a U.S. airport as well as closely monitoring their travel tracks, especially for international travelers, may be some of the additional screening procedures to be included in the current screening protocols. 

TagsUS, Travel, West Africa, Virus, outbreak, Sierra Leone, Guinea