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People from Ebola-affected countries will continue to be banned from entering Canada for another 30 days, prolonging the state of limbo for tens of thousands of people who have had their residency applications suspended since May.
The extension, confirmed Friday in a statement from the Public Health Agency of Canada, means decisions on immigration and visa applications from residents of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and South Sudan will remain on hold until Sept. 28. People from those countries who already hold valid visas will also be barred from entering Canada.
The government says the risk of Ebola in Canada is still low, but these measures are precautionary given the severity of the disease.
However, some public health experts say the decision is unjustified and goes against the guidance of the World Health Organization in favour of appearing to protect Canadians.
The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is officially the deadliest in the country’s history, and health officials worry the crisis will only get worse when children return to school.
Canada will also keep a 21-day quarantine for anyone returning from those three countries, a measure that aid agencies said impacts their ability to send humanitarian workers to the region.
Foreign nationals who have been in the D.R.C. within the past 21 days will also not be allowed to fly to Canada.
On Thursday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization declared the outbreak over in Uganda. No cases have been reported in South Sudan.
The same cannot be said in neighbouring D.R.C., where 2,786 people have died out of 5,794 who have been infected. It has been deemed the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak and is on track to become the deadliest on record.
Ebola spreads through bodily fluids like blood, vomit and semen, and people are only infectious when they are symptomatic. Public health experts say these factors make the risk of an imported case low and manageable for Canada, but a challenge in the D.R.C., where there are fundamental access issues to health care and clean water, alongside threats by rebel groups.
Immigration officials said 31,693 permanent residency applications and 10,465 temporary residency applications from overseas had been put on hold as of Aug. 12. The documents of people who have been granted residency but are not in Canada have also been suspended. Officials said that includes 1,534 permanent residents and 23,415 temporary residents who are overseas.
When Canada first announced its Ebola measures, there were a handful of cases in Uganda. That number later rose to 20, including two deaths. It’s been 42 days since the last patient was discharged on July 16.
One of the added hurdles with tackling this outbreak is the rare species of Ebola responsible, the Bundibugyo virus, which has no specific vaccine or treatment.
Border measures were initially announced ahead of the FIFA World Cup, pitched as a precautionary safety measure aligned with the United States and Mexico.
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