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Canadian officials are clamping down on both travel and immigration from multiple countries in central Africa as the region continues to face a fast-spreading outbreak of Ebola.
In a Tuesday briefing, federal public health and immigration officials said that as of Wednesday at 11:59 p.m., immigration documents from citizens of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Uganda and South Sudan will be suspended.
Those documents include permanent residence visas, temporary residence visas, electronic travel authorizations, study permits and work permits. These applications, officials said, will not be processed for at least 90 days. They stressed that this is a “pause” and not an outright ban on immigration.
Applications for people who are already in Canada will still be processed, and anyone who is mid-travel will be exempt from the suspension, officials said.
As of May 30, additional border measures are also being implemented under the Quarantine Act. Canadian citizens, permanent residents and foreign nationals who have been in impacted countries in the previous 21 days will be allowed to enter Canada but must undergo a health assessment, officials said in the briefing.
The deadly outbreak of an Ebola strain with no vaccine is spreading rapidly and poses a ‘very high risk’ to people in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with a growing risk of it spilling across borders, the World Health Organization warns.
Any travellers with symptoms will be transferred to hospital, while others will need to self-isolate for 21 days.
While these plans are still under development, border officials say, screening measures for travellers will be in place until Aug. 29.
The risk to Canadians remains low, and this is being done out of an “abundance of caution,” officials said.
‘Worse before it gets better’
The federal government also noted it will be deploying at least one Canadian with previous Ebola experience into DRC to support efforts on the ground, with that individual scheduled to depart within the next week.
The Ebola outbreak in central Africa has reached more than 1,000 suspected cases and hundreds of deaths, largely in Congo, with seven known cases to date in neighbouring Uganda.
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, said on Monday that delays detecting the fast-moving epidemic mean teams are now playing catch-up with an outbreak that will “get worse before it gets better.”
There is no approved treatment or vaccine for the relatively rare Bundibugyo form of the Ebola virus that’s behind the current outbreak. Congo’s remote northeastern provinces are also experiencing intensifying violence, high levels of community distrust and protests at Ebola treatment sites — all complicating health-care workers’ efforts to contain the outbreak.
U.S. already enacted ban
Canada’s move follows U.S. officials temporarily banning the entry of lawful permanent residents who have been in Congo, Uganda or South Sudan in the previous 21 days, as of last week. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention later said that extending the ban to green card holders was also necessary.
Blanket travel bans remain a controversial option and are discouraged under the International Health Regulations — a WHO treaty involving all member states that is meant to prevent and control the spread of disease.
As It Happens6:02Congolese health-care workers face public distrust and armed attacks
The people working full-time to respond to the ebola crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo are facing hostility. Three times in the past week, health-care facilities have been attacked by armed men. Ahmed Mahat, manager with International Medical Corps, spoke to As It Happens host Nil Kӧksal about his work building isolation wards for ebola patients, while trying to build trust and within the wider community.
Toronto-based infectious disease specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch noted the biggest issue in terms of the ongoing spread of Ebola is within Africa itself, given “porous borders” between countries.
“Regardless of what Canada’s response is to reduce the risk of Ebola virus importation, it’s imperative that we work with the countries impacted and the global community to quell this outbreak as quickly as possible, because the longer this outbreak persists, the higher the probability it is that it will see exported cases to more distant locales,” he said.
“Also, it’s the moral and ethical thing to do. That’s the most important aspect.”
