The United States will require all air travellers bound for the country to declare that they have not visited the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in the previous 21 days, as part of measures to prevent the spread of Ebola.
The requirement, outlined in a memo seen by Reuters on Thursday, will take effect on November 3 and require passengers to submit digital or paper attestations.
The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) adopted rules in May barring airline passengers who had visited the DRC, the epicentre of the 2026 outbreak, in the preceding three weeks. The restrictions were extended to US citizens in July.
The CDC is scheduled to hold briefing calls with major US and foreign airlines on Friday to explain how carriers should comply with the new requirements.
Airlines for America, which represents United Airlines, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines, did not immediately comment on the new measures.
As part of its Ebola prevention measures, the CDC has also barred foreign nationals from entering the United States if they had visited Uganda or South Sudan in the previous three weeks.
The Bundibugyo strain of the virus reportedly spread undetected for months before the outbreak was declared in May. It kills about half of those infected, and there is no approved treatment or vaccine for the strain.
According to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the outbreak has so far been confirmed to have killed about 4,700 people across Africa.
The CDC said no Ebola cases associated with the outbreak had been reported in the United States.
