Canada will temporarily suspend the entry of foreign nationals into Congo due to the Ebola outbreak
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The coalition government on Sunday said it will deny entry to foreigners who have visited the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the past 21 days as part of new temporary measures to combat the spread of Ebola.
The measures will go into effect Monday at 11:59 pm ET and will last until Aug. 29, The Public Health Association of Canada (PHAC) said in a statement.
“Reducing the entry of foreign nationals who have been in the DRC in the past 21 days can reduce public health risks to Canadians, and is intended to increase the effectiveness and sustainability of border measures that can safely process travelers arriving in Canada, including our returning workers,” the statement said.
The government’s risk level for travel health alerts in Congo is currently orange (or Level 3 out of 4), which means avoiding non-essential travel. PHAC says the risk of Ebola to Canadians remains low and no travel-related cases in Canada have been reported.
The measures taken so far are “out of caution,” the statement read.
The UN warns of discrimination associated with travel bans
The ban goes against advice from the World Health Organization (WHO), which has advised restrictions on travel or trade with Congo, where officials are currently struggling to contain the outbreak. The UN health center says travel restrictions create stigma and can make epidemics harder to control.
“People from affected regions and communities in Africa have faced unjustified accusations,” the WHO said in a statement last month. “The spread of Ebola is not determined by ethnicity or nationality.”
The federal government banned the entry and exit of people from Congo, Uganda and South Sudan in late May, suspending immigration documents for citizens of those countries.
Canadian citizens, permanent residents and those registered under the Indian Act who have been in those countries in the past 21 days can still travel to Canada, but they will undergo a health check on arrival and must be quarantined for 21 days.
Ebola is spread mainly through direct contact with the body fluids of a person with the disease. The number of confirmed Ebola cases in Congo has reached 2,011, including 754 deaths, according to government data released earlier this month. The WHO says that more than 100 health workers have been infected with the virus since the disease began.
Last week, the US introduced measures to prevent Americans who have been in the Congo in the past 21 days from entering the US on a commercial flight. Seven American aid workers who were working in the Congo to stop the outbreak of the disease are being held in isolation at a facility in Kenya.
