Canada to temporarily bar entry for foreigners who have recently been to Congo, against UN advice
By Ryan Patrick Jones and Maria Cheng
July 19 (Reuters) – Any foreigners who have been to Congo in the past 21 days will be denied entry as part of new, temporary border measures to fight the spread of Ebola, the Canadian government said on Sunday.
The ban goes against the advice of the World Health Organization, which has advised against restrictions on travel or trade to Congo, where authorities are currently struggling to contain a massive Ebola outbreak. The UN health agency says travel restrictions create stigma and can make epidemics harder to control.
“People from affected areas and African communities have faced unfair suspicion,” the WHO said in a statement last month. “The spread of Ebola is not determined by nationality or ethnicity.” WHO estimates that the risk of international spread of the Ebola outbreak in Congo is low.
Ebola is most often spread through direct contact with the body fluids of someone infected with the disease. As of July 15, Congo had reported more than 2,100 cases of Ebola, including 828 deaths.
“Limiting the entry of foreign nationals who have been in (Congo) in the past 21 days can reduce public health risks to Canadians,” the Public Health Agency of Canada said in a statement Sunday.
The Public Health Agency of Canada said in a statement that the measures will come into force on Monday, July 20, at 11:59 p.m. EDT. Canada had previously suspended immigration documents for residents of Congo, Uganda and South Sudan. No cases of Ebola have been confirmed in South Sudan, and Uganda has not reported a new case since last month.
Mark Johnson, a spokesman for the agency, acknowledged in an email that the risk to Canadians is low and that failure to comply with the new restrictions could result in fines of up to C$150,000 for individuals and $1.5 million for companies.
He said the updated measures “bring some of Canada’s temporary border measures into line with those of the United States and Mexico.”
Last week, the United States implemented measures that prevent Americans who have been in Congo in the past 21 days from entering the United States via commercial aviation. Seven American aid workers working in Congo to stop the outbreak are currently quarantined at a facility in Kenya.
The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control has advised against travel bans on Congolese people, saying they could disrupt humanitarian aid and have limited effectiveness.
(Reporting by Ryan Patrick Jones in Toronto and Maria Cheng in Ottawa; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Franklin Paul)
