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The U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Friday that travel measures will be imposed on travelers coming to the US from Guinea and the Democratic Republic of Congo- two countries battling recent outbreaks of the Ebola virus.
The U.S government will start directing travelers from both countries to six US airports from next week, according to the CDC.
Airlines will collect information from all passengers boarding flights to the US who were in either country within the previous 21 days, and share the data with the CDC and local health departments for monitoring purposes.
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These measures come as the US and other nations grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic, with increasing concern that variants could send rates spiking once again.
It also follows two previous outbreaks of Ebola in Africa that began in 2014 and 2018, resulting in the deaths of thousands.
Similar travel precautions were applied during the 2014 outbreak. Passengers arriving at designated airports to the US from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone — the hardest-hit nations during the outbreak — had their temperature taken and were asked questions about whether they had been exposed to anyone with Ebola.
The CDC noted that this year’s outbreaks are in remote areas and the risk to the US is extremely low while also stating that the travel restrictions are being implemented out of an abundance of caution.
As of Thursday, the World Health Organization said there were nine Ebola cases and five deaths reported in Guinea, and eight cases and four deaths reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Guinea declared an Ebola outbreak in one of its regions earlier this month, days after the Democratic Republic of Congo declared its 12th outbreak in its history.
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