The Netherlands will continue to deport failed asylum seekers to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea despite the ebola outbreak, junior justice minister Fred Teeven told parliament on Wednesday.

Opposition MPs had urged Teeven to halt the deportations, saying it is hypocritical to tell Dutch nationals not to travel to the region but force locals to return.

Teeven told MPs there is no reason not to deport a healthy person to the three countries. ‘If you take precautions, the risk of infection is small,’ he said.

Only failed asylum seekers who require medical attention will not be sent back because of the risk of hospital infection. One Liberian was not deported on Monday for this reason.

Teeven did agree to look into the problems facing a group of 940 people who were allowed to stay in the Netherlands in 2007 because their asylum procedures had taken too long.

Many of them are now eligible to become Dutch but cannot complete the naturalisation procedure because they do not have a birth certificate or other official documents from their country of origin.