The change applies to all passengers, including U.S. citizens, the State Department said.
The United States of America has announced plans to funnel all passengers flying into the country from Uganda through five international airports for "enhanced screening," in response to a growing Ebola outbreak in Uganda.
The State Department who stated this on Thursday said the move would take effect at midnight on Friday morning. It said it would revive a set of measures implemented by federal health authorities in response to previous Ebola outbreaks abroad as recently as 2016.
In 2021, the CDC also rerouted passengers from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Guinea to collect contact information.
Airlines will be required to route passengers who have been in Uganda during the past three weeks through one of five airports: New York John F. Kennedy International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport, Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, Chicago O'Hare International Airport and Washington Dulles International Airport.
There, according to a CNBC report, passengers will undergo "enhanced screening" measures designed to assess whether they have symptoms of the disease before they are allowed to continue on to their destinations.
The change applies to all passengers, including U.S. citizens, the State Department said.
Experts say the move might deter travellers who feel sick after recently being in Uganda from trying to fly into the U.S.
A previous attempt to conduct exit and entry screening for Ebola, after a case in 2014, identified seven travellers with potential symptoms — none of whom were ultimately diagnosed with the disease. One traveller cleared by the screening later developed symptoms and tested positive for the virus after arriving in the U.S.
Ebola infections typically start with symptoms like fever and fatigue, before leading to more severe vomiting, diarrhoea, bleeding and often death. The World Health Organization says the virus can have an incubation period of as long as three weeks after exposure before symptoms begin.
Since the outbreak was first declared on September 20, the World Health Organization said this week that 63 cases of Ebola were confirmed or probable. At least 29 people have died.
The strain of Ebola behind the outbreak is known as the Sudan virus, which spreads mostly through close contact with blood or other bodily fluids.
The World Health Organization says the share of cases in previous outbreaks that died from their Sudan Ebola virus infections ranged between 41% and 100%.
Unlike some other Ebola viruses, there are currently no licensed vaccines or treatments to curb the Sudan virus. Doses of the Ervebo vaccine in the U.S. Strategic National Stockpile are not expected to work for Sudan virus infections, the CDC said.