Health minister doubles down on Ebola-related travel suspension for 3 African countries
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Canada’s decision to temporarily ban residents of South Sudan, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo was not based on advice from public health officials, Health Minister Marjorie Michel confirmed in a news conference on Thursday.
She said the move was taken due to considerations over Canada hosting the FIFA World Cup this summer to reduce the risk of spreading Ebolavirus.
“We are taking precautionary measures. Is it perfect? Certainly not. But we are taking measures with the tools we have because we know we need to protect the population, and we need to give people, even Congolese people or Canadian people, the comfort that we are doing all we can to contain this virus,” Michel said.
The 90-day travel suspensions were announced on Tuesday, along with three-week self-isolation measures for Canadians or permanent residents returning from the three countries.
Michel said Canada is aligned with the U.S. and Mexico, the World Cup’s two other host countries. But she also said she has only directly spoken with her Mexican counterpart, and not the U.S.
Health Minister Marjorie Michel said the upcoming FIFA World Cup — co-hosted by Canada, the U.S. and Mexico — is the driving factor behind new travel measures to combat the spread of Ebola. ‘Even if Canada still remains low risk, we are taking all the precautionary measures and we are aligning with the U.S. and Mexico to have the same kind of measures,’ Michel said.
“We had a discussion and we were saying we need to align,” she said.
She said her provincial and territorial counterparts also told her they wanted to see Canada implement more measures due to the FIFA events.
“The World Health Organization’s recommendation was not to move with the border closure, and that’s not the recommendation from public health,” Michel said. “It’s a regional decision that we took with our partners and the provinces and territories.”
“I don’t want to avoid the fact that people after COVID, you know, everytime you are talking about virus, something, people are very scared.”
WHO, Africa CDC criticize travel restrictions
In a statement to CBC News on Thursday, the World Health Organization said it “assesses the risk of the epidemic as very high at the national level, high at the regional level and low at the global level.”
It said it “advises against any restrictions on travel and/or trade to DRC or Uganda.”
The WHO said it recommends “cross-border screenings and screenings at points of exit, such as airports” and is supporting countries taking that approach.
Meanwhile, speaking at a news conference in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Dr. Jean Kaseya, the head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, questioned the restrictions.
“We cannot afford to stop this outbreak with travel restrictions that Western countries start to impose to African countries,” he said.
“It’s even a shame to see a country like South Sudan with zero cases, zero suspected cases, zero deaths, under travel restriction. Who can come to explain to me why South Sudan is under travel restriction?”
FIFA says it is in touch with host countries
FIFA said in a statement that it continues to work with the three host country governments, “including the U.S. Department of State, CDC and Department of Homeland Security, Mexico’s Secretariat of Health and the Public Health Agency of Canada, as well as with the World Health Organization, to ensure a safe and secure tournament, as the health of all individuals involved remains FIFA’s priority.”
A growing Ebola outbreak and concerns about World Cup travel has pushed the federal government to clamp down on travel and immigration from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and South Sudan. Travellers will have to self-isolate for 21 days and immigration documents will be temporarily suspended.
The organization said it is informing “ticket holders residing in the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Uganda of important travel restrictions,” citing the WHO’s determination the Ebola outbreak “constitutes a public health emergency of international concern.”
It said fans who anticipate being unable to travel to games due to the restrictions could resell or transfer their tickets.
FIFA did not directly answer a question from CBC News about whether it asked Canada to place travel restrictions.