{"id":338664,"date":"2026-05-22T02:23:50","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T20:53:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/?p=338664"},"modified":"2026-05-22T02:23:51","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T20:53:51","slug":"should-canada-consider-travel-bans-like-u-s-is-doing-amid-ebola-outbreak-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/2026\/05\/22\/should-canada-consider-travel-bans-like-u-s-is-doing-amid-ebola-outbreak-national\/","title":{"rendered":"Should Canada consider travel bans like U.S. is doing amid Ebola outbreak? &#8211; National"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p>After U.S. travel restrictions stemming from the Ebola outbreak forced a business flight to divert to Montreal while carrying a passenger from one among the countries facing those latest rules, Canadians could also be wondering whether Canada should impose its own travel restrictions.<\/p>\n<p>The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Ebola\u00a0disease outbreak attributable to a rare virus in Congo and Uganda a\u00a0public health emergency of international concern on Sunday, with not less than 139 suspected deaths and greater than 600 suspected cases.<\/p>\n<p>Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, said on Wednesday that \u201cwe expect those numbers to maintain increasing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention and the Department of Homeland Security <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/ebola\/situation-summary\/title-42-order.html\">imposed a U.S. entry ban<\/a> on foreign travelers who&#8217;ve been in Congo, Uganda, or South Sudan prior to now 21 days \u201ceffective immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-ad c-ad--bigbox l-article__ad c-ad--tallSticky\">\n<p>Story continues below commercial<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201cAt the moment, CDC assesses the immediate risk to the overall U.S. public as low, but we&#8217;ll proceed to judge the evolving situation and will adjust public health measures as additional information becomes available,\u201d a press release from the CDC reads.<\/p>\n<p>Currently, the Canadian government advises Canadians to avoid all travel to Ituri and North Kivu provinces, citing safety and security concerns.<\/p>\n<p>Nonetheless, the federal government has <a href=\"https:\/\/travel.gc.ca\/travelling\/health-safety\/travel-health-notices\/549\">issued a level two travel notice for Congo<\/a>, which <a href=\"https:\/\/travel.gc.ca\/travelling\/health-safety\/travel-health-notices#level2\">is ready to point<\/a> \u201can increased risk to travellers or certain groups of travellers (for instance, pregnant women, campers, people visiting friends and relatives) and reminds them to practice enhanced health precautions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s currently no travel notices surrounding South Sudan and Uganda in relation to Ebola outbreaks.<\/p>\n<p>The notice advises Canadians to \u201cpractice enhanced health precautions\u201d corresponding to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The use of non-public protective equipment<\/li>\n<li>Delaying travel until risk is lower<\/li>\n<li>Additional really useful vaccinations for some groups<\/li>\n<li>Avoiding higher-risk activities<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Global News reached out to infectious disease experts to ask whether travel bans could be effective and whether Canada should follow suit.<\/p>\n<div class=\"l-article__part\" data-shortcode=\"tp_video\">\n<div class=\"c-video c-videoPlay \" data-iframe-receiver=\"\" data-autoplay=\"\" data-displayinline-featured=\"false\" data-displayinline-type=\"video\" data-displayinline-player-id=\"miniplayer_11857222_6a0f6d2be298c\" data-displayinline-video-id=\"11857222\" data-displayinline-ratio=\"16:9\" data-displayinline=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/video\/embed\/11857222\/#autoplay&#038;stickyiframe=miniplayer_11857222_6a0f6d2be298c\" data-displayinline-sticky=\"true\" data-permutive-data='{\"content\":{\"name\":\"Health Matters: Global risk of Ebola outbreak spreading remains low, WHO says\",\"type\":\"video\",\"sections\":[\"videos\",\"national\",\"health\",\"world\"],\"keywords\":[\"democratic-republic-of-congo\",\"ebola\",\"international\",\"short-clip\",\"top-news\",\"health-matters\"],\"iab\":{\"categories\":[\"Health\",\"Health\/Health Conditions\",\"Health\/Health Conditions\/Infectious Diseases\"],\"tags\":[\"Africa\",\"Airbnb\",\"Bundibugyo ebolavirus\",\"Bunia\",\"Calgary\",\"Canada\",\"Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\",\"Common cold\",\"COVID-19\",\"COVID-19 pandemic\",\"Cruise ship\",\"Democratic Republic of the Congo\",\"Departments of France\",\"Developing country\",\"Disease\",\"Disease outbreak\",\"Drug\",\"East Africa\",\"Ebola\",\"Fever\",\"Flight\",\"Global News\",\"Goma\",\"Government of Canada\",\"Health\",\"Homeland security\",\"Hospital\",\"Hotel\",\"Incubation period\",\"Infection\",\"Infectious diseases (medical specialty)\",\"Influenza\",\"Intravenous therapy\",\"Ituri Province\",\"Kivu\",\"Kivu Ebola epidemic\",\"Montreal\",\"North Kivu\",\"Orthohantavirus\",\"Oxygen\",\"Pandemic\",\"Passenger\",\"Pathogen transmission\",\"Patient\",\"Personal protective equipment\",\"Pregnancy\",\"Professor\",\"Public health\",\"Public Health Emergency of International Concern\",\"Republic of the Congo\",\"Research in management of Ebola\",\"Respiratory syncytial virus\",\"Risk\",\"Rwampara district\",\"Rwanda\",\"SARS-CoV-2\",\"Ship\",\"Signs and symptoms\",\"South Sudan\",\"Sudan\",\"Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus\",\"Toronto\",\"Toronto General Hospital\",\"Travel during the COVID-19 pandemic\",\"Uganda\",\"United States\",\"United States Department of Homeland Security\",\"Vaccine\",\"Vancouver\",\"Viral hemorrhagic fever\",\"Virus\",\"Western African Ebola epidemic\",\"World Health Organization\"]}}}'>\n<div class=\"c-video__inner \">\n\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"c-video__placeholder\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-video__image\" alt=\"Click to play video: 'Health Matters: Global risk of Ebola outbreak spreading remains low, WHO says'\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/media.globalnews.ca\/videostatic\/news\/56wrto14rv-wu59dlxzru\/may_20.jpg?w=1040&#038;quality=70&#038;strip=all\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"\" sizes=\"auto, \" data-sizes=\"(min-width: 1040px) 1040px,(min-width: 720px) 720px,450px\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"c-video__overlay\"><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<time class=\"c-video__duration\">2:16<\/time><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"c-video__title\">Health Matters: Global risk of Ebola outbreak spreading stays low, WHO says<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Dr. Gerald Evans, a professor of drugs and infectious diseases at Queen\u2019s University, believes that Canadian travel restrictions aren&#8217;t vital.<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-ad c-ad--bigbox l-article__ad c-ad--tallSticky\">\n<p>Story continues below commercial<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201cWe all know that travel restrictions don\u2019t work in relation to controlling the spread of something like a viral hemorrhagic fever virus like Ebola is,\u201d he said.<em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"c-inlineSignup\" data-newsletter-inline=\"\">\n<div class=\"c-inlineSignup__image\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"170\" height=\"225\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/wp-content\/themes\/shaw-globalnews\/images\/skyline\/healthiq.jpg\" alt=\"Receive the latest medical news and health information delivered to you every Sunday.\">\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"c-inlineSignup__content\">\n<h2 class=\"c-inlineSignup__title\">Get weekly health news<\/h2>\n<p>Receive the most recent medical news and health information delivered to you each Sunday.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>This can be a sentiment that Dr. Isaac Bogoch, infectious disease specialist on the Toronto General Hospital also agrees with.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThose aren\u2019t very effective measures in keeping infectious diseases out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Compared to the travel restrictions that got here from the COVID-19 pandemic, Bogoch\u00a0said that the spread of the 2 illnesses is vastly different.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith COVID, it&#8217;s got a brief incubation period and there\u2019s transmission of the virus before people have overt symptoms, so it\u2019s very transmissible, it\u2019s hard to regulate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd we did close our borders [\u2026] a number of that was performative. It didn\u2019t really impact the importation of COVID. We had travel bans for particular countries and that also didn\u2019t wasn\u2019t very effective.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Evans also stated that the recent hantavirus exposures have left people cautious that one other potential pandemic could occur.<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-ad c-ad--bigbox l-article__ad c-ad--tallSticky\">\n<p>Story continues below commercial<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"l-article__part\" data-shortcode=\"tp_video\">\n<div class=\"c-video c-videoPlay \" data-iframe-receiver=\"\" data-autoplay=\"\" data-displayinline-featured=\"false\" data-displayinline-type=\"video\" data-displayinline-player-id=\"miniplayer_11854739_6a0f6d2be3edb\" data-displayinline-video-id=\"11854739\" data-displayinline-ratio=\"16:9\" data-displayinline=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/video\/embed\/11854739\/#autoplay&#038;stickyiframe=miniplayer_11854739_6a0f6d2be3edb\" data-displayinline-sticky=\"true\" data-permutive-data='{\"content\":{\"name\":\"DR Congo racing to contain deadly Ebola outbreak\",\"type\":\"video\",\"sections\":[\"videos\",\"national\",\"health\",\"world\"],\"keywords\":[\"africa\",\"congo\",\"democratic-republic-of-congo\",\"dr-congo\",\"dr-congo-ebola\",\"ebola\",\"ebola-outbreak\",\"ebola-virus\",\"international\",\"short-clip\",\"uganda\",\"uganda-ebola\",\"who\",\"who-ebola\",\"world-health-organization\",\"global-national\"],\"iab\":{\"categories\":[\"Health\",\"Health\/Health Conditions\",\"Health\/Health Conditions\/Infectious Diseases\"],\"tags\":[\"Africa\",\"Airbnb\",\"Bundibugyo ebolavirus\",\"Bunia\",\"Calgary\",\"Canada\",\"Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\",\"Common cold\",\"COVID-19\",\"COVID-19 pandemic\",\"Cruise ship\",\"Democratic Republic of the Congo\",\"Departments of France\",\"Developing country\",\"Disease\",\"Disease outbreak\",\"Drug\",\"East Africa\",\"Ebola\",\"Fever\",\"Flight\",\"Global News\",\"Goma\",\"Government of Canada\",\"Health\",\"Homeland security\",\"Hospital\",\"Hotel\",\"Incubation period\",\"Infection\",\"Infectious diseases (medical specialty)\",\"Influenza\",\"Intravenous therapy\",\"Ituri Province\",\"Kivu\",\"Kivu Ebola epidemic\",\"Montreal\",\"North Kivu\",\"Orthohantavirus\",\"Oxygen\",\"Pandemic\",\"Passenger\",\"Pathogen transmission\",\"Patient\",\"Personal protective equipment\",\"Pregnancy\",\"Professor\",\"Public health\",\"Public Health Emergency of International Concern\",\"Republic of the Congo\",\"Research in management of Ebola\",\"Respiratory syncytial virus\",\"Risk\",\"Rwampara district\",\"Rwanda\",\"SARS-CoV-2\",\"Ship\",\"Signs and symptoms\",\"South Sudan\",\"Sudan\",\"Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus\",\"Toronto\",\"Toronto General Hospital\",\"Travel during the COVID-19 pandemic\",\"Uganda\",\"United States\",\"United States Department of Homeland Security\",\"Vaccine\",\"Vancouver\",\"Viral hemorrhagic fever\",\"Virus\",\"Western African Ebola epidemic\",\"World Health Organization\"]}}}'>\n<div class=\"c-video__inner \">\n\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"c-video__placeholder\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-video__image\" alt=\"Click to play video: 'DR Congo racing to contain deadly Ebola outbreak'\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/media.globalnews.ca\/videostatic\/news\/wo2xtci8pp-ag66dkqbol\/260518-VINCENT.jpg?w=1040&#038;quality=70&#038;strip=all\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"\" sizes=\"auto, \" data-sizes=\"(min-width: 1040px) 1040px,(min-width: 720px) 720px,450px\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"c-video__overlay\"><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<time class=\"c-video__duration\">2:07<\/time><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"c-video__title\">DR Congo racing to contain deadly Ebola outbreak<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201cThe hantavirus issue that we\u2019ve been facing recently with the cruise ship and now this Ebola outbreak in East Africa, with almost certainty, I can see these aren&#8217;t going to grow to be a pandemic. They\u2019re spread in a really different way,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-tabs\">\n<p>\n\t\t\t<button role=\"tab\" class=\"c-tabs__tab c-tabs__tab--active\" type=\"button\">More on Health<\/button><br \/>\n\t\t\t<button role=\"tab\" class=\"c-tabs__tab\" type=\"button\">More videos<\/button>\n\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201cCOVID is a respiratory virus, so it was relatively easy to transmit between people, very similar to the common cold is or influenza and RSV. It\u2019s a really different picture with these viruses [Ebola and hantavirus], that are transmitted through a unique mechanism than COVID was.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Compared to Ebola and hantavirus, Evans stated that the spread of the 2 illnesses stems \u201conly once you get and the sicker you get that you just actually get a number of transmission.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-ad c-ad--bigbox l-article__ad c-ad--tallSticky\">\n<p>Story continues below commercial<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201cBy that point, you\u2019ve already identified any person who\u2019s unwell and possibly tested them and discovered what they&#8217;d. COVID was trickier,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Bogoch also said that with people travelling at rates \u201cnever seen before,\u201d it makes the containment of those illnesses way more difficult.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201c<\/strong>The sad reality is that we\u2019re in an era of unprecedented human mobility at a worldwide level,\u201d he said. \u201cYou possibly can start in a single corner of the world and be in nearly another a part of the world in 24 hours through business means.<em>\u201c<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s still going to be outbreaks, but we should always have systems in place where we\u2019re obviously supportive of low- and middle-income countries in order that they\u2019re higher capable of prevent, detect and reply to these [outbreaks],\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<div class=\"l-article__part\" data-shortcode=\"section-heading\">\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"l-article__sectionAnchor c-sectionHeading__anchor\" id=\"how-severe-is-the-ebola-outbreak\"><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"c-sectionHeading__title\">\n\t\t\t\tHow severe is the Ebola outbreak?\t\t\t<\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>There\u2019s no approved treatment for Ebola disease in Canada. Patients can receive oxygen, intravenous fluids and other drugs in designated treatment sites to assist with symptoms, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.canada.ca\/en\/public-health\/services\/diseases\/ebola.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">in response to the Canadian government<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"c-ad c-ad--bigbox l-article__ad c-ad--tallSticky\">\n<p>Story continues below commercial<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>While the WHO <a href=\"https:\/\/www.who.int\/news\/item\/17-05-2026-epidemic-of-ebola-disease-in-the-democratic-republic-of-the-congo-and-uganda-determined-a-public-health-emergency-of-international-concern\">determined that the outbreak<\/a> constitutes a public health emergency of international concern, it doesn&#8217;t meet the standards of pandemic emergency.<\/p>\n<p>The outbreak is attributable to Bundibugyo virus disease (BVD), a style of Ebola disease. There are not any approved vaccines or specific treatments for BVD.<\/p>\n<p>Most cases are reported in Ituri province, including the Mongwalu, Rwampara, and Bunia health zones. Ituri province borders Uganda, where imported cases linked to this outbreak have been reported.<\/p>\n<p>Cases have also been reported in Goma, in North Kivu province. In response, border crossings between Goma and neighbouring Rwanda (Goma-Giseny) are closed until further notice on account of the outbreak.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\n\t\t&#038;copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After U.S. travel restrictions stemming from the Ebola outbreak forced a business flight to divert to Montreal while carrying a passenger from one among the countries facing those latest rules, Canadians could also be wondering whether Canada should impose its own travel restrictions. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Ebola\u00a0disease outbreak attributable to a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":338665,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20691],"tags":[11505,6192,23433,1903,23434,4631,3761],"class_list":["post-338664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-bans","tag-canada","tag-ebola","tag-national","tag-outbreak","tag-travel","tag-u-s"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338664"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":338667,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338664\/revisions\/338667"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/338665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}