▶ Watch Video: Congo needs “more resources” to halt Ebola outbreak, Africa CDC doctor says
Washington — U.S. citizens who have traveled to the Democratic Republic of Congo cannot board a commercial flight to return to the U.S. unless they have spent at least 21 days outside the Central African nation, over heightened concerns about the spread of Ebola there, a U.S. official told CBS News.
On Monday, the Trump administration began imposing Title 49-authority travel restrictions, based on updated guidance on the Ebola outbreak from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. The restrictions follow weeks of warnings by the Trump administration against traveling to the DRC.
Reuters first reported the travel restrictions for U.S. citizens. Under the restrictions, U.S. citizens who are in or have recently been in the DRC will only be able to take a commercial flight to the U.S. if they have spent at least 21 days outside of the DRC. Non-U.S. citizens who had spent time in the DRC were already restricted from traveling to the U.S.
U.S. health authorities, the official said, are seeing greater community spread of Ebola into the western part of the DRC, an indication that the disease is no longer confined to the eastern side of the country. The World Health Organization has reported 1,963 confirmed cases in the country and 719 confirmed deaths as the impoverished country struggles to contain the outbreak.
The U.S. official said the administration is aware of about two dozen U.S. citizens who were set to board flights to the U.S., and the State Department will be working with them on their 21-day waiting period before their return home.
Many Americans in Congo are there working for nonprofit groups or are on international business, the U.S. official said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will also give medical assessments to Americans in the DRC, the U.S. official said.
Last week, the CDC said a U.S. citizen doing humanitarian work in Congo tested positive for the virus.