Health worker Dieudonné Sezabo carries a disinfecting device as he walks through the Rwampara Hospital in Ituri in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo on Tuesday.GLODY MURHABAZI/AFP/Getty Images
The federal government is temporarily suspending all visitor applications from residents of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and South Sudan, including permanent and temporary resident visas, because of the concern about the spread of Ebola.
The new measures, which take effect Wednesday, were announced on Tuesday after Prime Minister Mark Carney’s cabinet met.
The measures were introduced at a time when there is mounting concern about the rapid spread of Ebola in the DRC and Uganda.
Federal Health Minister Marjorie Michel and federal Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab said on Parliament Hill that the measures are also being introduced to ensure Canada is aligned with the United States and Mexico ahead of the FIFA World Cup, set to be hosted at locations across North America from June 11 to July 19.
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In the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an order that took effect on May 18 that temporarily prohibited non-U.S. citizens who were in the DRC, South Sudan or Uganda in the past 21 days from entering the country.
However, the World Health Organization, which has declared the current Ebola outbreak a public-health emergency of international concern, has cautioned countries from closing borders or placing restrictions on travel and trade.
It says these measures are usually implemented out of fear, not science, and can damage economies, hinder the delivery of essential aid and push people into informal border crossings that are not monitored, accelerating the spread of disease.
When asked about how Canada can justify its position given the WHO’s stand, Ms. Michel said while the public-health risk remains low, it is “not a question of science.”
Canadians are still traumatized by the COVID-19 pandemic, she said, adding it would take “one case, not two” for members of the public to say the government did not step in to take measures to protect them.
The Canadian government says travellers from Ebola-affected regions will be required to self-isolate for 21 days. Ottawa will also be halting the processing of visitor applications for three African countries over Ebola concerns.
The Canadian Press
The government has also imposed new screening measures under the Quarantine Act, which will take effect this Sunday, for Canadian citizens, permanent residents and foreign nationals who have been in the DRC and Uganda in the past 21 days.
The new rules will require that travellers undergo a health assessment upon arriving in Canada and that they comply with public-health measures. Travellers with symptoms will be transferred to a hospital for further assessment and all others will be required to provide a plan for self-isolation for 21 days.
Congo has reported more than 1,000 suspected or confirmed cases of Ebola in the latest outbreak, and more than 230 suspected or confirmed deaths. Uganda has also reported seven cases. No cases have been reported in South Sudan, but it shares a border with the Congolese region where the outbreak’s epicentre is located and is considered at high risk of Ebola cases.
There are no approved treatments or vaccines for Bundibugyo, the less common Ebola species that has sparked the latest outbreak. Experts are deeply worried about the outbreak because the virus may have been spreading for up to two months before it was detected.
The International Rescue Committee, a U.S.-based humanitarian agency that is providing aid in the Ebola zone, warned Tuesday the outbreak could become the deadliest Ebola epidemic on record, surpassing the outbreak that killed more than 11,300 people in West Africa from 2013 to 2016, unless there is urgent international action.
“The outbreak is spreading faster than the response,” IRC president David Miliband said.
Expanding armed conflict and cuts to global aid funding have “dismantled defences at exactly the wrong moment,” said Bob Kitchen, the IRC’s vice-president of emergencies, in a report this week.
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Jeremy Konyndyk, who led the U.S. government’s response to the West Africa outbreak in 2014, said the latest official number of more than 1,000 cases in the DRC is an undercount. The number of cases has already escalated much faster than the West Africa outbreak, which took four months to reach the same number of cases, he said.
After reaching the 1,000 mark in 2014, the West Africa outbreak “achieved escape velocity and exploded,” Mr. Konyndyk said in an online post. The opportunity for rapid containment of the latest outbreak is “long gone,” he said.
The U.S. contribution to the latest global Ebola response has been greatly weakened by its withdrawal from the World Health Organization, its elimination of the U.S. Agency for International Development, and its cuts to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Mr. Konyndyk said.
The WHO is the lead agency this time, but it has been “badly hit” by the U.S. withdrawal and funding cuts, which have forced it to downsize its emergency team, he said.
Last week, Canada bolstered health screening measures at its borders so travellers face additional questions upon arrival, such as if they have been to a region affected by an outbreak of the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola.
Canada is also advising travellers to avoid non-essential travel to any areas in the DRC where cases have been reported. Additionally, it says Canadians should avoid all travel to Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu provinces because of safety and security concerns.