Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Joss Reimer says travellers arriving in Canada are being asked about whether they've been to the regions affected by the Ebola outbreak.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
Canada has bolstered health screening at its borders because of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, says Joss Reimer, the country’s chief public-health officer.
At a virtual news conference on Friday, Dr. Reimer said travellers now face additional questions when arriving to Canada, including whether they have travelled to the regions affected by the outbreak.
The enhanced screening measures, which took effect on Wednesday, are being introduced at a time when concern is mounting about the spread of Ebola in the DRC and Uganda.
The outbreak of a rare Ebola strain, Bundibugyo, was first disclosed on May 15 after it circulated undetected for several weeks in war-ravaged Ituri province in the east of the DRC. This marks the third-largest Ebola outbreak on record.
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On Friday, the director-general of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, raised the national risk level to “very high,” saying the outbreak in the DRC is spreading rapidly.
Dr. Ghebreyesus said that the WHO previously assessed the risk level to be high at national and regional levels, and low at a global level.
“We are now revising our risk assessment to very high at the national level, high at the regional level, and low at the global level,” he said in Geneva. “So far, 82 cases have been confirmed in DRC, with seven confirmed deaths.”
Dr. Reimer said that Ebola is transmitted through direct contact with the body fluids of an infected individual who is showing symptoms, or through contact with infected animals or contaminated materials.
Dr. Reimer said she encountered the enhanced screening protocols directly when she recently returned to Canada from Switzerland.
At the airport, said she was asked additional questions, including if she had travelled to the region of the Ebola outbreak and if she had any symptoms of the disease.
Andrew Lawrence, a director-general for the Canada Border Services Agency, said that designated screening officers who are trained to follow the federal Quarantine Act can respond if travellers display any symptoms of illness. The act lays out how officers can take steps, including requesting travellers isolate and undergo further medical assessment.
The National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg has confirmed an individual from Ontario who recently returned from Ethiopia tested negative for Ebola, Dr. Reimer said.
WHO raises risk of Ebola turning into a national outbreak in Congo to ‘very high’
The testing underscores how public-health steps were followed even when the likelihood of Ebola in Canada is low, she added.
Dr. Reimer, who also provided an update Friday on the hantavirus, said no additional cases of that virus have been identified in Canada beyond an infection confirmed last week in a Yukon resident in their 70s.
This individual was aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship with their partner when an outbreak of the Andes strain of hantavirus was confirmed. The couple arrived back to Canada earlier this month and were isolating in B.C. when the individual developed mild symptoms, including a fever and headache.
The partner was also tested but the results came back negative.
“The overall risk to the general population in Canada remains low at this time,” said Dr. Reimer. “We have a robust system in place for detection, prevention and response.”
Hantavirus primarily affects rodents but can be transmitted to humans through the inhalation of virus particles from animal urine, droppings or saliva. The Andes strain is the only known hantavirus capable of spreading from person to person.
In addition to single confirmed case, 35 other Canadians are being monitored for hantavirus. Eight are considered high-risk and are isolating, including the infected individual’s partner, and 27 are low-risk and not required to isolate.
An Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda has been declared a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organization, after 80 deaths were attributed to the disease that, in regard to this strain, has no approved vaccine.
Reuters
Three people – a Dutch couple and a German national – have died and at least 12 worldwide cases, including the one Canadian, have been linked to the cruise ship outbreak. There have been no cases amongst people who were not on the cruise.
The outbreak is not believed to have originated on the Dutch cruise ship but contracted by a passenger before boarding the vessel in April.
Dr. Ghebreyesus, in his Friday WHO update, urged countries that are affected by the hantavirus outbreak to monitor all affected individuals carefully for the remainder of the quarantine period, which is up to 45 days in parts of Canada.
“More than 600 contacts continue to be followed in 30 countries, and a small number of high-risk contacts are still being located,” he said.