Next week, the U.S. government will begin directing travelers from Guinea and the Democratic Republic of Congo to six U.S. airports, according to the CDC. Airline will collect information from all passengers flying to the US who have been in any country during the preceding 21 days, and share the data with the CDC and local health departments for monitoring purposes.
The measures come as the US and other countries grapple with the Covid-19 pandemic, with growing concerns that variants could cause prices to rise again. It also follows two previous Ebola outbreaks in Africa that began in 2014 and 2018, leading to the deaths of thousands.
The CDC noted that this year’s outbreaks are in remote areas and that the risk to the US is extremely low. The agency said the travel restrictions are being implemented out of an abundance of caution.
As of Thursday, the World Health Organization said nine cases of Ebola and five deaths had been reported in Guinea, and eight cases and four deaths had been reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Red Cross said in a statement that a network of more than 700 trained volunteers “was activated as part of a first wave of response and the government called on people to respect hygiene and prevention measures and to provide signs of the disease. authorities. “The World Health Organization has helped control the recent outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo with vaccinations and helped obtain doses for Guinea.