US isolates troops, Australia in visa ban on Ebola-hit countries
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THE US military has started isolating soldiers returning from an Ebola response mission in West Africa and Australia has become the first rich nation to impose a visa ban on the affected countries amid global anxiety about the spread of the virus.
The latest measures, along with decisions by some US states to impose mandatory quarantines on health workers returning home from treating Ebola victims in West Africa, have been condemned by health authorities and the United Nations as extreme.
The top health official in charge of dealing with Washington’s response to Ebola warned against turning doctors and nurses who travel to West Africa to tackle Ebola into “pariahs.”
The outbreak has killed nearly 5,000 people since March, the vast majority in West Africa, but nine Ebola cases in the United States have caused alarm, and states such as New York and New Jersey have ignored federal advice by introducing their own controls.
The United Nations on Monday criticized the new restrictions imposed by some US states on health workers returning home from the affected West African states of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.
“Returning health workers are exceptional people who are giving of themselves for humanity,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said.
“They should not be subjected to restrictions that are not based on science. Those who develop infections should be supported, not stigmatised.”
Meanwhile, the US Army said Chief of Staff General Raymond Odierno ordered the 21-day monitoring period for returning soldiers “to ensure soldiers, family members and their surrounding communities are confident that we are taking all steps necessary to protect their health.”
The US military has stressed that its personnel are not interacting with Ebola patients. Up to 4,000 US troops may be deployed on the mission.
Australia, which has not recorded a case of Ebola despite a number of scares, on Monday issued a blanket ban on visas from Ebola-affected countries in West Africa, leading to concerns in Africa.
“Western countries are creating mass panic which is unhelpful in containing a contagious disease like Ebola,” said Ugandan government spokesman Ofwono Opondo.
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