WASHINGTON, July 14 — The Trump administration said today it was barring American citizens in the Democratic Republic of Congo from travelling to the US on commercial flights, according to a White House official.
The order, issued under a transportation authority known as Title 49, will place US citizens in Congo or those who have recently left the country on a “do-not-board” list until they have spent at least 21 days in a third country, the official said.
The new restrictions come amid a widening Ebola outbreak that has spread to several provinces in Congo. The number of confirmed Ebola cases across the country had risen to 1,926, including 702 deaths, according to official data released late on Sunday.
The often fatal viral disease spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids from infected people or animals and causes symptoms including high fever, vomiting, and internal and external bleeding.
About two dozen Americans were due to board flights to the US today after travelling to Congo. The official said the State Department would support them and others affected during the waiting period.
Earlier yesterday, US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr signed an order citing heightened Ebola risks, including the spread of the virus to areas just hours from Congo’s capital, Kinshasa.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Friday that a US citizen working for a humanitarian organisation in Congo had tested positive for the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus.
Separately, one American infected in Congo was admitted to Frankfurt University Hospital in Germany early on Monday, officials said.
Another American, identified by the Serge Christian mission organisation as Dr Peter Stafford, had contracted Ebola and was brought to Germany for treatment, the CDC said in May.
