The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced this week that travelers from Guinea and the Democratic Republic of Congo to the United States are expected to provide contact information due to two separate Ebola outbreaks in the countries.
The relatively small number of passengers – who fly to a required six designated US airports best equipped to handle the situation – will have to provide their information from Thursday, which will be passed on to the CDC so that health officials can speak to the person. and if necessary, they should be quarantined, reports The Washington Post.
The traveler must submit their information if they have been in one of the African countries for the past 21 days, the CDC said on Tuesday.
The six airports are in New York, Newark, Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington, DC
GUINEA ANNOUNCES NEW EBOLA EPIDEMIC, FIRST DISEASE OF DISEASES SINCE 2016
Similar measures were taken last year when travelers from China to the US were flown to specific airports to undergo temperature tests when the coronavirus pandemic first started.
FILE – This undated colored transmission electron micrograph image provided by the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) shows a viral virus. The World Health Organization said on Thursday 18 February 2021 that it would send more than 11,000 Ebola vaccinations to the West African nation of Guinea in the coming days to combat the recent epidemic of the deadly hemorrhagic fever declared in the southern country. N’Zerekore region. (Frederick Murphy / CDC via AP, File)
The virus “spreads rapidly” through body fluids, but poses a “minor risk” to those who have not yet been in close contact with an infected person, according to the CDC.
Guinea’s last Ebola outbreak in 2016 killed more than 11,000 people in the country.
It can also survive for hours to days on dry surfaces.
The CDC said the risk of Ebola spreading across the US was “extremely low”, CNBC reported.
Only about 60 passengers fly every day from Congo and Guinea to the US, reports the Post.
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On February 23, a total of 17 patients had the virus in both countries.