US imposes 21‑day quarantine on travelers from DRC amid Ebola outbreak

The U.S. Embassy in Kinshasa announced that any American passport holder who has been in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) within the past 21 days will be barred from boarding commercial flights to the United States until they have spent an additional 21 days outside the DRC. The measure is intended to curb the risk of importing Ebola cases.

The DRC’s health ministry reported 2,111 confirmed Ebola cases and 754 deaths as of 15 May. The World Health Organization described the outbreak as one of the fastest‑spreading to date, noting that about 80 % of new infections are among individuals not on existing contact lists and that true case numbers could be two to four times higher. The outbreak involves the Bundibugyo variant, for which no approved vaccine or treatment exists.