Ebola outbreak sparks US travel curbs, Visa suspension for Africa regions
The measures shared by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) come as the World Health Organization declared the deadly Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) an international health emergency.
Satish Pillai, the health agency’s Ebola response incident manager, told reporters at a briefing that an American in the Democratic Republic of Congo contracted the virus after being exposed to the virus “through his work” there.
“The person developed symptoms over the weekend and tested positive late on Sunday,” Pillai said, adding that efforts were ongoing to transfer the individual to Germany for treatment.
The official added that the US was trying to evacuate six more people for health monitoring.
About 25 people work in the U.S. field office in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the CDC has complied with a request to send an additional senior technical coordinator, Pillai said.
“CDC currently assesses the immediate risk to the general U.S. public as low, but we will continue to evaluate the evolving situation and may adjust public health measures as additional information becomes available,” the health agency said in a statement. he said. In addition to screening at airports, the CDC said it is imposing entry restrictions on non-U.S. passport holders who have traveled to Uganda, DRC or South Sudan in the past 21 days.
The U.S. Embassy in Kampala, Uganda, said all visa services have been temporarily suspended and affected applicants have been notified.
Trump said he was “concerned” about the outbreak, but “I think the outbreak is limited to Africa right now.”
Criticism of US response
There is no vaccine or specific treatment for the strain responsible for the current spread of highly contagious hemorrhagic fever.
According to the latest figures released by Congolese Health Minister Samuel-Roger Kamba on Sunday, 91 reported deaths are suspected to be due to the current increase in cases.
Approximately 350 suspected cases were reported. Most of those affected are between the ages of 20 and 39, and more than 60 percent are women.
The United States, under President Donald Trump, officially withdrew from the World Health Organization (WHO) this year.
In recent days, U.S. officials have dodged questions about how the administration’s shutdown of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which played a key role in responding to previous Ebola outbreaks, affects current efforts to track and manage the spread of the virus.
CDC officials emphasized that they are cooperating with international partners and health authorities in affected countries.
The public health measures announced Monday will include assistance with contact tracing and laboratory testing, as well as continued “deployment of CDC personnel to support efforts to contain the outbreak in affected areas,” the agency said.
And the U.S. State Department said Monday it was mobilizing $13 million in aid for “immediate response efforts.”
But Matthew Kavanagh, director of the Center for Global Health Policy and Policy at Georgetown University, said the U.S. response so far has been “disappointing” and called travel bans “more theater than effective public health measures.”
“The administration claimed that it could negotiate bilateral agreements and replace WHO’s capacity with domestic efforts. This outbreak clearly shows that this is a failed strategy,” he told AFP.
During previous Ebola outbreaks, coordinated efforts between USAID, CDC and U.S.-funded nonprofits led to rapid response and containment, he said.
This time, “we were weeks away from the outbreak, and we only learned about it after hundreds of cases and a massive spread, including in the capital Uganda,” Kavanagh said, adding that the Trump administration was “playing catch-up.”
