The Public Health Agency of Canada says temporarily blocking entry for people coming from Ebola-affected countries is needed to scale back the chance of importing the disease, despite the World Health Organization’s suggestion against travel restrictions.
“The health and safety of Canadians will all the time be the Government of Canada’s top priority,” a spokesperson said in an email to The Canadian Press.
“While the health risk to Canadians from Ebola disease stays low, we’re asserting a precautionary approach to make sure the protection and security of Canadians … particularly within the context of the FIFA World Cup.”
On Thursday, Canada, the US and Mexico issued a press release saying they’ve “aligned public health travel measures for people coming from African regions at best risk from the Ebola virus.”
“This co-ordinated approach goals to guard our residents and the thousands and thousands of holiday makers, fans, athletes, and tourists expected through the FIFA World Cup 2026, while maintaining travel and commerce across our borders,” the statement said.
Lots of of hundreds of individuals from all around the world are expected to reach in Toronto and Vancouver in June and July for the games.
But some infectious disease experts in Canada are siding with the WHO, saying the restrictions aren’t an efficient technique to prevent people from getting Ebola on this country.
Canada has never had an Ebola case.
Canadian officials said that starting Wednesday, final decisions on immigration and travel applications for people from Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and South Sudan could be paused for 90 days, though that may very well be prolonged or lifted based on how the outbreak evolves.
Residents from all three countries need a visa to enter Canada.
Officials also announced a compulsory self-isolation period of 21 days for anyone who has travelled to those countries. That measure will take effect on Saturday under the Quarantine Act and last until Aug. 29.
The federal government said it’s taking these actions “out of an abundance of caution” as health-care staff struggle to contain an outbreak of Bundibugyo virus, a rare type of Ebola, within the DRC. There are a handful of cases in neighbouring Uganda, which responded by closing its border on Wednesday. There have been no reported cases in South Sudan, nevertheless it shares a border with each countries.
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Unlike one other more common strain of Ebola virus, there is no such thing as a licensed vaccine or treatment for Bundibugyo virus.
Members of the family of a victim who died from the Ebola virus mourn through the funeral at Rwampara Cemetery, in Rwampara, Congo, Saturday, May 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)
In an email to The Canadian Press on Wednesday, the WHO said it “advises against any restrictions on travel and/or trade to DRC or Uganda based on available information for the present outbreak.”
“No country should close its borders or place any restrictions on travel and trade. Such measures are frequently implemented out of fear and haven’t any basis in science,” said spokesperson Tarik Jašarević.
“Most critically, these restrictions may also compromise local economies and negatively affect response operations from a security and logistics perspective.”
In response, the Public Health Agency of Canada said, “the WHO has noted that there are significant uncertainties regarding the true variety of infected individuals, geographic spread, and epidemiological links amongst cases.”
Dr. Allison McGeer, an infectious diseases specialist at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, said she’s already seeing how the measures could interfere with Canada helping combat the Ebola outbreak on the bottom in DRC.
“I’ve already (received) emails from people who find themselves interested by going to assist with outbreak management. And a few of them must think concerning the indisputable fact that in the event that they come back they’ll be quarantined for 3 weeks.”
McGeer said the science doesn’t support the broad travel restrictions as ways to significantly reduce risk in Canada.
The Democratic Republic of Congo is a big country and the outbreak is in Ituri province, removed from the capital, she said.
“This could be something that may have some scientific justification if we may very well be specific about where people were travelling from,” she said.
As well as, Ebola is far less contagious than COVID-19, influenza or measles and is spread through contact with bodily fluids. Persons are also not contagious until they’re showing symptoms.
“I get the indisputable fact that Ebola could be very scary. And I understand, , the response and the sense that closing our borders will protect us,” she said.
But “statistically, there may be a vanishingly small probability that anybody (with Ebola) will come. And in the event that they do come, we’re completely able to managing the illness, an illness which just isn’t transmissible until you get sick,” McGeer said.
Angela Rasmussen, a virologist with the University of Saskatchewan who has studied Ebola, also said the travel restrictions aren’t based in science.
“I believe that screening travellers, actually, from places which were affected is a great idea — , screening them for symptoms and offering testing,” she said.
“But I don’t think that revoking immigration documents or immigration paperwork or the flexibility to immigrate to Canada or to travel to Canada based on national origin alone is supported.”
Rasmussen said Ebola most frequently spreads to the people caring for patients with Ebola, including health-care staff or relations, or through contact with the bodies of people that have died.
Although she thinks having all people arriving from DRC, Uganda and South Sudan quarantine is “overkill” and that the restrictions must be more geographically specific, Rasmussen said that having people isolate and monitor for symptoms is sufficient to stop Ebola spread in Canada.
But Dr. Matthew Runnalls, medical director of Toronto’s World Cup medical planning team, said regardless that Ebola just isn’t as contagious as other viruses, the travel restrictions are “entirely reasonable.”
“I believe fundamentally, this can be a very low-risk scenario, especially for North America, nevertheless it’s such a high-risk pathogen,” said Runnalls, who can also be an emergency physician at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto.
“While you’re talking a few tournament of this scale and the dimensions and the variety of people who find themselves coming and attending, we also need to … be sure that the event itself doesn’t turn out to be a spreading opportunity.”
— With files from Hannah Alberga