Canada Slams Shut Its Border To Congo Travelers, Defying WHO Guidance

Canada announced Sunday it will refuse entry to any foreign national who has set foot in Congo within the past 21 days, rolling out tough new temporary border measures aimed at stopping Ebola from crossing into the country.

The move flies in the face of the World Health Organization, which has explicitly urged against travel or trade restrictions on Congo as authorities there battle a major Ebola outbreak. The WHO warns that such bans breed stigma and can actually undermine efforts to bring epidemics under control.

“People from affected regions and African communities have faced unfair suspicion,” the WHO said last month. “The spread of Ebola is not determined by nationality or ethnicity.” The agency puts the risk of the outbreak spreading internationally at low.

Ebola spreads mainly through direct contact with an infected person’s bodily fluids. As of July 15, Congo had logged more than 2,100 cases and 828 deaths.

Canada’s Public Health Agency defended the decision, saying in a statement that keeping out foreign nationals who’d recently been in Congo “may reduce public health risks for Canadians.” The restrictions kick in Monday, July 20, at 11:59 p.m. EDT. Canada had already frozen immigration processing for residents of Congo, Uganda and South Sudan — even though South Sudan has recorded zero Ebola cases and Uganda hasn’t reported a new one since last month.

Agency spokesman Mark Johnson admitted in an email that the risk to Canadians is low, but warned that anyone who flouts the new rules could face fines of up to CAD$150,000 for individuals and $1.5 million for corporations. He said the shift brings Canada’s border policy in line with the U.S. and Mexico.

The U.S. imposed similar measures last week, barring Americans who’d recently been in Congo from re-entering via commercial flights. Seven American aid workers who were in Congo fighting the outbreak are currently stuck in quarantine at a facility in Kenya.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has also pushed back against travel bans on Congo, warning they choke off humanitarian aid while doing little to actually contain the virus.