Public Health Agency of Canada defends decision to restrict travel from Ebola-affected countries

Dr. Isaac Bogoch speaks on travellers from Ebola affected regions being told to self isolate and how to prevent contracting the virus.

TORONTO — The Public Health Agency of Canada says temporarily blocking entry for people coming from Ebola-affected countries is necessary to reduce the risk of importing the disease, despite the World Health Organization’s recommendation against travel restrictions.

“The health and safety of Canadians will always 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 remains low, we are putting forward a precautionary approach to ensure the safety and security of Canadians ... particularly in the context of the FIFA World Cup.”

On Thursday, Canada, the United States and Mexico issued a statement saying they have “aligned public health travel measures for individuals coming from African regions at greatest risk from the Ebola virus.”

“This co-ordinated approach aims to protect our citizens and the millions of visitors, fans, athletes, and tourists expected during the FIFA World Cup 2026, while maintaining travel and commerce across our borders,” the statement said.

Hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world are expected to arrive 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 effective way to prevent people from getting Ebola in 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 would be paused for 90 days, though that could be extended or lifted based on how the outbreak evolves.

Citizens from all three countries need a visa to enter Canada.

Officials also announced a mandatory 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 is taking these actions “out of an abundance of caution” as health-care workers struggle to contain an outbreak of Bundibugyo virus, a rare form of Ebola, in 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, but it shares a border with both countries.

Unlike another more common strain of Ebola virus, there is no licensed vaccine or treatment for Bundibugyo virus.

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 current outbreak.”

“No country should close its borders or place any restrictions on travel and trade. Such measures are usually implemented out of fear and have no basis in science,” said spokesperson Tarik Jašarević.

“Most critically, these restrictions can 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 number of infected persons, geographic spread, and epidemiological links among 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 ground in DRC.

“I’ve already (received) emails from people who are thinking about going to help with outbreak management. And some of them need to think about the fact that if they come back they’ll be quarantined for three 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 large country and the outbreak is in Ituri province, far from the capital, she said.

“This might be something that would have some scientific justification if we could be specific about where people were travelling from,” she said.

In addition, Ebola is much less contagious than COVID-19, influenza or measles and is spread through contact with bodily fluids. People are also not contagious until they are showing symptoms.

“I get the fact that Ebola is very scary. And I understand, you know, the reaction and the sense that closing our borders will protect us,” she said.

But “statistically, there is a vanishingly small probability that anybody (with Ebola) will come. And if they do come, we are completely capable of managing the illness, an illness which is not 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 think that screening travellers, certainly, from places that have been affected is a good idea — you know, screening them for symptoms and offering testing,” she said.

“But I don’t think that revoking immigration documents or immigration paperwork or the ability to immigrate to Canada or to travel to Canada based on national origin alone is supported.”

Rasmussen said Ebola most often spreads to the people caring for patients with Ebola, including health-care workers or family members, or through contact with the bodies of people who have died.

Although she thinks having all people arriving from DRC, Uganda and South Sudan quarantine is “overkill” and that the restrictions should be more geographically specific, Rasmussen said that having people isolate and monitor for symptoms is sufficient to prevent Ebola spread in Canada.

But Dr. Matthew Runnalls, medical director of Toronto’s World Cup medical planning team, said even though Ebola is not as contagious as other viruses, the travel restrictions are “entirely reasonable.”

“I think fundamentally, this is a very low-risk scenario, especially for North America, but it’s such a high-risk pathogen,” said Runnalls, who is also an emergency physician at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto.

“When you’re talking about a tournament of this scale and the size and the number of people who are coming and attending, we also want to ... make sure the event itself doesn’t become a spreading opportunity.”

— With files from Hannah Alberga

Nicole Ireland, The Canadian Press