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Health workers tend to an Ebola patient at the Rwampara Treatment Center in Ituri, Congo on Thursday.Moses Sawasawa/The Associated Press
The federal government says it will bar foreign nationals who set foot in Congo in the past 21 days from entry to Canada due to the risk of importing the deadly Ebola disease.
The Public Health Agency of Canada says the new, temporary measure will come into effect on Monday night at 11:59 p.m.
Commercial and private air carriers are also not allowed to board those foreign nationals on flights into the country.
Ebola outbreak is three times bigger than any previous outbreak at the same stage
The government says it’s taking a cautious approach, but insists the overall health risk to Canadians remains low, with no domestic cases of Ebola reported from people returning from countries suffering outbreaks.
The travel ban will not apply to Canadian citizens or permanent residents, who must quarantine on arrival for 21 days if they’ve been to Congo, Uganda or South Sudan.
That quarantine measure will expire on Aug. 29.