An Air France flight bound for Detroit, Michigan, was redirected to Montreal, Canada, on Wednesday after a passenger from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) boarded the plane in error, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials said. The diversion came amid new travel restrictions introduced to reduce the risk of the Ebola virus entering the United States.
A CBP spokesperson stated that the passenger should not have boarded the flight due to entry restrictions. The agency, in coordination with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), took decisive action to protect public health and prevent the introduction of Ebola into the country.
On Monday, the CDC and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced temporary measures including enhanced travel screening and entry restrictions for non-US passport holders who have been in Uganda, the DRC, or South Sudan within the previous 21 days. From Thursday, all US-bound flights carrying foreign travellers from these countries must land at Washington-Dulles International Airport in Virginia, where enhanced public health measures are in place.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that there have been almost 600 suspected cases of Ebola and 139 suspected deaths, with 51 confirmed cases in the DRC and two in Uganda. The WHO director-general warned that the numbers are expected to rise, noting that the scale of the epidemic in the DRC is much larger than confirmed cases suggest.
An American citizen working in the DRC has also tested positive for Ebola and has been transferred to Germany for treatment, the WHO director-general confirmed.
