US adds Atlanta area airport for Ebola screening, CDC says

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, the US, September 30 2014. Picture:  REUTERS/TAMI CHAPPELL
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it had expanded its enhanced Ebola screening to include Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Picture: REUTERS/TAMI CHAPPELL

By Lucia Mutikani

Americans coming back from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda or South Sudan now have a second entry point for returning to the US, with the CDC on Saturday expanding its enhanced Ebola screening to include Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

  • Hartsfield-Jackson has previously been used to screen passengers and has established operational procedures in place, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
  • Washington’s Dulles International Airport was designated this week to screen returning citizens for the Ebola virus.
  • Enhanced public health entry screening is one component of CDC’s Ebola approach, which also includes overseas exit screening, airline illness reporting, and post-arrival public health monitoring.
  • The World Health Organisation says 82 cases have been confirmed so far in the DRC, ​with seven confirmed deaths, 177 suspected deaths ​and almost 750 suspected cases linked to the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola.
  • Earlier this week, the Trump administration banned non-citizens who had travelled to the DRC, Uganda or South Sudan in recent weeks from ​entering the US.

Reuters



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