U.S. Customs and Border Protection says an Air France flight sure for the USA was diverted to Montreal after a passenger from the Democratic Republic of Congo boarded “in error” amid flight restrictions tied to the Ebola outbreak.
A spokesperson for the agency says the passenger “mustn’t have boarded” the plane sure for Detroit resulting from U.S. entry restrictions put in place to cut back Ebola risk.
Online plane tracker FlightAware showed the plane was en route from Paris to Detroit when it landed at Trudeau International Airport on Wednesday.
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The U.S. border agency said it was taking “crucial measures” to guard public health in co-ordination with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Canadian health officials didn’t immediately return requests for comment.
Air France said the passenger was denied entry into the U.S. resulting from recent regulations that travellers from certain countries, including the Congo, can enter only through Washington.
Health officials are on alert as a deadly outbreak of a rare kind of Ebola called Bundibugyo ravages the Congo and neighbouring Uganda.
Ontario’s health ministry says one person has been tested for several infectious diseases, including Ebola, out of an abundance of caution resulting from the person’s travel history.
The Public Health Agency of Canada says samples are expected to reach on the National Microbiology Laboratory on Thursday.
The World Health Organization has reported almost 600 suspected cases and 139 suspected deaths, though officials imagine the dimensions of the spread is way larger.
© 2026 The Canadian Press