Canada has introduced enhanced screening measures for Ebola at airports for returning travellers, Canada’s top doctor said Friday after confirming an individual who was tested in Ontario is negative for the deadly virus.
Dr. Joss Reimer noted during a virtual press conference that the risk of the outbreak spreading in parts of Africa remains low for Canadians, and wouldn’t say if she would recommend a travel ban for those countries.
She said the proactive testing of the individual in Ontario, who had reported symptoms “consistent with a range of illnesses” after returning from Ethiopia, was “a good example of how quickly measures are activated” when a potential case emerges.
“Both the initial testing that was conducted in Ontario as well as confirmatory testing at the National Microbiology Laboratory were negative,” Reimer said.
She also confirmed the “passenger of concern” aboard a flight that was redirected to Montreal on Wednesday was assessed and declared asymptomatic for Ebola by Public Health Agency of Canada quarantine officers, and the individual has since returned to their point of origin.Reimer said the enhanced “comprehensive” screening has been in place at Canadian airport inspection kiosks since Wednesday, asking additional questions including whether returning travellers have been to the Democratic Republic of Congo or neighbouring Uganda within 21 days of arriving in Canada.
Travellers are asked to self-identify if they are experiencing symptoms or if they have been in contact with someone who has tested positive for Ebola, she added.
“I just returned from Switzerland, and I can personally attest that I was asked additional questions regarding whether I had travelled to the area, whether I had any symptoms that could be related to Ebola,” she said.
Additional quarantine and screening teams have been deployed at the most common ports of entry, Reimer said, and information signage has been posted.
Reimer said these measures were appropriate given the current state of the outbreak when asked if she would recommend travel restrictions or a ban, something she noted would be a decision made by cabinet rather than herself.
“It’s important that we look at how effective things like travel bans are,” she said. “We need to be looking at whether or not there is any evidence that the outbreak is escaping the area (where) it’s currently concentrated. We also need to be looking at things like how the virus is spread.
“I want to really highlight that Ebola is very different than respiratory viruses like COVID. The way that (Ebola) spreads is from much closer and prolonged contact. And so we do need to manage this virus differently than how we did with things like COVID or influenza or measles.”
Reimer said she will be providing advice to cabinet on “this very fluid, rapidly evolving situation” with the latest information from the World Health Organization and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, so that “decision-makers have all the up-to-date-information as they make this difficult decision” on whether to institute travel measures.
The head of the World Health Organization said Friday that the Ebola outbreak in Congo is “spreading rapidly” and poses a “very high” risk at the national level.
The U.S. has imposed an entry ban on foreign travelers who have been in Congo, Uganda, or South Sudan in the past 21 days.
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