Should Canada consider a travel ban like the US did during the Ebola outbreak? – Nationally
After US travel restrictions stemming from the Ebola outbreak forced a commercial airliner to divert to Montreal while carrying a passenger from one of the countries facing the new rules, Canadians may be wondering if Canada should impose its own travel restrictions.
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared an outbreak of Ebola caused by a rare virus in Congo and Uganda as a public health emergency of global concern on Sunday, with at least 139 deaths and more than 600 suspected cases.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, said on Wednesday “we expect those numbers to continue to increase.”
The US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention and the Department of Homeland Security have placed the US entry ban on travelers from other countries who have been in Congo, Uganda, or South Sudan in the past 21 days “effective immediately.”
“Currently, the CDC assesses the risk to the US public as low, but we will continue to assess the evolving situation and may adjust public health measures as more information becomes available,” a statement from the CDC read.
Currently, the Canadian government is advising Canadians to avoid all travel to the provinces of Ituri and North Kivu, citing safety and security concerns.
However, the government has issued a second-level travel advisory for Congo, which will indicate “an increased risk for travelers or certain groups of travelers (for example, pregnant women, campers, people visiting friends and relatives) and remind them to use enhanced safety measures.”
There are currently no travel advisories around South Sudan and Uganda regarding the Ebola outbreak.
The notice advises Canadians to “use enhanced security measures” such as:
- Use of protective equipment
- Delaying the journey until the danger is less
- Additional vaccinations recommended for other groups
- Avoiding high-risk activities
Global News reached out to infectious disease experts to ask if a travel ban would work and if Canada should follow suit.
Dr. Gerald Evans, a professor of medicine and infectious diseases at Queen’s University, believes Canada’s travel restrictions are unnecessary.
“We know that travel restrictions don’t work when it comes to controlling the spread of something like a hemorrhagic fever virus like Ebola,” he said.
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This is the feeling Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious disease specialist at Toronto General Hospital, agreed.
“Those are not the most effective ways to prevent infectious diseases,” he said.
Compared to the travel restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic, Bogoch said the spread of the two diseases is very different.
“With COVID, it has a short incubation period and there is transmission of the virus before people have obvious symptoms, so it is highly contagious, difficult to control,” he said.
“We also closed our borders […] a lot of that was doing it. It didn’t really have an effect on the entry of COVID. We were banned from traveling to certain countries and that didn’t work very well.”
Evans also said the recent exposure to hantavirus has left people wary of the possibility of another possible pandemic.
“The story of the hantavirus that we were dealing with recently on the ship and now this outbreak of Ebola in East Africa, almost certainly, I can see that these will not be an epidemic. They spread in a very different way,” he said.
“Covid is a respiratory virus, so it was easy to transmit it between people, like the common cold or the flu and RSV. It’s a very different picture with these viruses. [Ebola and hantavirus]which are transmitted in a different way than COVID. “
Comparing Ebola and hantavirus, Evans said the spread of the two diseases “only starts when you get sick and the sicker you get the more infections you get.”
“At that time, you already identified someone who was sick and maybe tested them and found out what they had. COVID was tricky,” he said.
Bogoch also said that since people are traveling in “unprecedented” numbers, it makes the detection of these diseases very difficult.
“The sad truth is that we are in an era of unprecedented human mobility around the world.” “You can start from one corner of the world and be in any other part of the world in 24 hours by using commercial means.“
“There will still be disease outbreaks, but we must have plans where it is clear that we support low and middle income countries so that they can better prevent, identify and respond to this. [outbreaks],” he said.
How serious is the Ebola outbreak?
There is no approved treatment for Ebola in Canada. Patients can receive oxygen, intravenous fluids and other drugs at designated treatment centers to help with symptoms, according to the Canadian government.
While the WHO has determined that the outbreak constitutes a public health emergency of international concern, it does not meet the criteria for a pandemic emergency.
The disease is caused by Bundibugyo virus disease (BVD), a type of Ebola. There are no approved vaccines or specific medications for BVD.
Most cases are reported in Ituri province, including Mongwalu, Rwampara, and Bunia health zones. Ituri province borders Uganda, where imported cases linked to the outbreak have been reported.
Cases have also been reported in Goma, North Kivu province. In response, the border crossing between Goma and neighboring Rwanda (Goma-Giseny) is closed until further notice due to the outbreak.
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