Ebola emergency leaves US flights diverted to one city airport | US | News
Health organizations across the world are scrambling to address the growing threat (Image: Getty)
Flights bound for the US from several nations are being diverted to Washington DC as concerns mount over a lethal Ebola outbreak.
The uncommon strain of Ebola has reportedly killed 139 people, with a further 600 cases linked to the spreading virus. The WHO has declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, troubled by its “scale and speed.” The WHO chief in Congo suggests it may continue for at least two months.
A fresh DHS regulation due to be published on Thursday will mandate that all US-bound flights carrying passengers who have been in Congo, Uganda, or South Sudan must land at Washington-Dulles International Airport in Virginia.
It will affect passengers who have visited the countries at any time within the previous 21 days. The measures are intended to direct people to “where the U.S. government is focusing public health resources to implement enhanced public health measures.”
The rare form of Ebola, known as the Bundibugyo virus, circulated undetected for weeks following the first known death while authorities tested for another, more common Ebola virus and received negative results.
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In a statement issued to CBS News, a DHS spokesperson confirmed that Customs and Border Protection is “enhancing public health screening, travel monitoring, and health protection response activities.” The DHS spokesperson added that officials will be working with “airlines, international partners and port-of-entry officials to identify and manage travelers who may have been exposed to the Ebola virus.”
Diversions are already under way. An Air France flight from Paris to Detroit, Michigan, made an emergency diversion to Canada on Wednesday in adherence to US flight restrictions over the Ebola outbreak, after officials discovered that one passenger had travelled from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“Due to entry restrictions put in place to reduce the risk of the Ebola virus, the passenger should not have boarded the plane,” a U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesperson said in a statement.
Investigations continue into the precise origin and timing of the outbreak, but “given the scale, we are thinking that it has started probably a couple of months ago,” said Anaïs Legand, with WHO’s emergencies program. So far, 51 cases have been confirmed in Congo’s northern provinces of Ituri and North Kivu, and two cases in Uganda, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday. There are 139 suspected deaths and nearly 600 suspected cases.
The outbreak has been declared a global emergency (Image: Getty)
Nevertheless, “the scale of the epidemic is much larger,” he warned. The MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis, based in London, suggested that cases have been considerably underreported and that the true figure could already exceed 1,000.
“The true magnitude remains uncertain,” it said. This represents Congo’s 17th Ebola outbreak, and the WHO has stated the country’s health ministry has seasoned staff and the resources to mount a response. Nevertheless, the majority of past outbreaks have involved the more prevalent Ebola strain.
Anxious healthcare workers in eastern Congo disclosed on Wednesday they are without sufficient protective equipment and training as a rapidly spreading Ebola outbreak involving an uncommon strain of the virus unfolds in one of the world’s most remote and vulnerable areas.
The World Health Organization, which has assessed the global risk as low, has stated “patient zero” has not been identified.
“It’s truly sad and painful because we’ve already been through a security crisis, and now Ebola is here too,” said Justin Ndasi, a Bunia resident.
A vaccine is still months away (Image: Getty)
Tonnes of medical equipment have been airlifted into Bunia, where the first confirmed fatality was recorded last week, but residents have observed that masks are becoming increasingly difficult to obtain and certain disinfectants that previously cost 2,500 Congolese francs (approximately $1) now cost four times as much.
At a treatment centre in Rwampara, relatives wept and watched as healthcare workers in protective gear carefully disinfected the remains of their loved ones – suspected Ebola victims – and placed them into coffins for safe burial sites.
The illness struck without warning, witnesses reported, describing a rapid deterioration after symptoms were mistaken for conditions such as malaria. “He told me his heart was hurting,” said Botwine Swanze, who lost her son. “Then he started crying because of the pain. … Then he started bleeding and vomiting a lot.”
The Ebola virus is highly contagious and spreads between humans through direct contact with bodily fluids, including vomit, blood or semen. Symptoms include fever, vomiting, diarrhoea, muscle pain and, in some cases, both internal and external bleeding.
