Travelers flying to the United States from countries linked to the recent deadly Ebola outbreak in Africa will now be required to land at a single designated airport, the Department of Homeland Security announced on Thursday.
Effective immediately, all flights carrying passengers who have been in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, or South Sudan at any point during the previous 21 days will be diverted to Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia.
The announcement was made by newly appointed DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who assumed the role in March following the dismissal of Kristi Noem. The decision to reroute flights to Dulles, where the U.S. government is concentrating its resources “to implement enhanced public health measures,” was announced Thursday.
Earlier, an Air France flight was forced by U.S. border officials to divert to Canada after it was discovered that a passenger from the DRC was onboard. While the passenger is a citizen of the DRC, it remains unclear whether they had been in the country within the past three weeks.
“Air France boarded a passenger from the Democratic Republic of Congo in error on a flight to the United States,” a Customs and Border Protection spokesperson told The Independent. “Due to entry restrictions put in place to reduce the risk of the Ebola virus, the passenger should not have boarded the plane.”
Ebola Outbreak Details
Ebola is a deadly infection that spreads person-to-person through bodily fluids. It damages blood vessels, leading to life-threatening symptoms such as excessive bleeding, vomiting, and organ failure.
Since the outbreak was first identified, approximately 600 cases of the virus have been reported in the DRC, resulting in 139 deaths, according to World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus.
Speaking on Tuesday, Ghebreyesus said he was “deeply concerned” about the scale and speed of the outbreak, and noted that the virus appears to have been spreading for some time before being detected by health officials. However, he added that the outbreak remains a public health emergency of international concern, but not a pandemic emergency.
American Doctor with Ebola Flown to Germany
On Wednesday, the White House denied allegations that it had delayed the evacuation of an American doctor who contracted Ebola in the DRC, after a report suggested officials were reluctant to bring him back to the United States.
Following Dr. Peter Stafford, an American physician working in the DRC with a nonprofit Christian ministry, testing positive for Ebola, officials from the CDC and the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response reportedly advocated for his transfer to a U.S. facility with special biocontainment units.
However, White House officials allegedly expressed reluctance to bring Stafford back to the United States, according to the Washington Post. Ultimately, Stafford was flown to Germany, where he is receiving care at Berlin’s Charite University Hospital. White House Spokesperson Kush Desai called the Post’s report “absolutely false” and stated that Stafford was flown to Germany because it is 12 hours closer to the DRC than the United States, and “time is of the essence.”
