The Trump administration announced on Monday that it is preventing American citizens located in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) from travelling to the United States on commercial flights, according to a White House official.
The order, issued under a transport authority known as Title 49, will place US citizens currently in the DRC, or who have recently departed the country, on a no-board list until they have remained in a third country for at least 21 days, the official said.
The new restrictions come as the Ebola outbreak in the DRC intensifies, having spread across several provinces. The number of confirmed cases in the country rose to 1,926, including 702 deaths, according to official data released on Sunday.
The frequently fatal viral disease is transmitted through direct contact with bodily fluids of infected persons or animals, and causes symptoms including high fever, vomiting, and internal and external bleeding.
Around two dozen American citizens had been scheduled to board flights to the United States on Tuesday, 14 July, after having been in the DRC. The US State Department will provide support to those citizens and other affected individuals during the waiting period, the official said.
Also on Monday, US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert Kennedy Jr. signed an order citing escalating risks associated with Ebola, including the spread of the virus to areas located just a few hours from the Congolese capital, Kinshasa.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported on Friday that an American citizen working for a humanitarian organisation in the DRC had tested positive for the Bundibugyo variant of the Ebola virus. A second American national infected in the DRC was admitted to the University Hospital of Frankfurt, Germany, in the early hours of Monday, according to authorities.
A further American citizen, identified by the missionary organisation Serge Christian as physician Peter Stafford, contracted Ebola and was transferred to Germany for treatment, the CDC reported in May.
Source: Diário Económico
Original article: https://www.diarioeconomico.co.mz/2026/07/14/mundo/eua/ebola-eua-suspendem-regresso-imediato-de-cidadaos-vindos-da-rdc/
