The US military has started isolating soldiers returning from an Ebola response mission in west Africa, while Australia became the first developed nation to impose a visa ban on the affected countries amid global anxiety about the spread of the virus.
The latest measures, along with decisions by some US states to impose mandatory quarantines on health workers returning home from treating Ebola victims in west Africa, have been condemned by health authorities and the UN as extreme.
The top health official in charge of dealing with Washington’s response to Ebola warned against turning doctors and nurses who travel to west Africa to tackle Ebola into “pariahs.”
The Ebola outbreak has killed nearly 5,000 people since March, the vast majority in west Africa, but nine Ebola cases in the US have caused alarm, and states such as New York and New Jersey have ignored federal advice by introducing their own strict controls.
The UN on Monday sharply criticized the new restrictions imposed by some US states on health workers returning home from the affected states of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.
“Returning health workers are exceptional people, who are giving of themselves for humanity,” said Stephane Dujarric, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s spokesman. “They should not be subjected to restrictions that are not based on science. Those who develop infections should be supported, not stigmatized.”
US troops returning from west Africa are also being isolated, even though they have showed no symptoms of infection and are not believed to have been exposed to the deadly virus, officials said on Monday.
In a statement, the US Army said Chief of Staff General Raymond Odierno ordered the 21-day monitoring period for returning soldiers “to ensure soldiers, family members and their surrounding communities are confident that we are taking all steps necessary to protect their health.”
The US military has repeatedly stressed that its personnel are not interacting with Ebola patients and are instead building treatment units to help health authorities battle the epidemic.
“From a public health perspective, we would not feel that isolation is appropriate,” said Jeff Duchin, Washington State epidemiologist and chairman of the public health committee of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.
The decision goes well beyond previously established military protocols and came just as US President Barack Obama’s administration sought to discourage precautionary quarantines being imposed by some US states on healthcare workers returning from countries battling Ebola.
Australia on Monday issued a blanket ban on visas from Ebola-affected countries to prevent the disease reaching the country, becoming the first developed nation to shut its doors to the region.
Australia has not recorded a case of Ebola, despite a number of scares, and Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has so far resisted repeated requests to send medical personnel to help battle the outbreak on the ground.
The decision to refuse entry for anyone from Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, while touted by the government as a necessary safety precaution, was criticized by experts and advocates as politically motivated and shortsighted.
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