Top public health official in Africa has formally appealed to the United States to lift Ebola-related travel restrictions on Uganda, citing the country’s month-long streak without new infections.
Africa CDC Director-General Jean Kaseya revealed he had written to U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. requesting the restrictions be dropped, telling a conference in Accra that there was no justification for the U.S. to keep them in place. He called on African nations to back his letter as a show of continental solidarity with countries battling the outbreak, whose epicentre remains the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Uganda discharged its last Ebola patient on July 16, starting a 42-day countdown under WHO guidelines before the country can be officially declared Ebola-free. The nation has recorded 20 cases in total, a fraction of the more than 2,400 reported in Congo.
Kaseya said it was time to lift the restrictions on Uganda while continuing to support Congo through its ongoing challenges.
The U.S. currently restricts entry for all travellers who have recently been in Congo, along with some travellers from Uganda and South Sudan — restrictions first imposed in May and tightened further just last week.
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