Canada announces quarantine measures

TORONTO — The Canadian government announced yesterday (Nov 10) that it is tightening restrictions on travellers from Ebola-affected countries in West Africa by imposing self-monitoring and quarantine measures.

High-risk travellers who have been in the three countries hardest hit by the Ebola outbreak — Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia — will be required to self-isolate at home or at “a facility”, preferably near designated treatment centres in each province, for the 21-day incubation period. Travellers deemed low-risk who had no known exposure to Ebola would be required to self-monitor for 21 days, including twice-a-day temperature checks.

The policy statement by the Public Health Agency of Canada did not specify what kind of facility should handle high-risk travellers, or who would decide which of the options would apply to a particular case.

Dr Gregory Taylor, Canada’s chief public health officer, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Rumours have circulated for some time that the federal government was considering strict quarantine rules that would apply for returning healthcare workers but the idea reportedly met with considerable resistance from provincial governments.

Opponents expressed concern that applying strict quarantine restrictions on returning health care workers who did not show Ebola symptoms and had risked their lives would deter others from volunteering to help stem the outbreak in West Africa.

The new rules, which took effect yesterday, create two classes of travellers from West Africa: High risk and low risk.

The rules apply to people who are not evidently ill when they arrive in Canada, but might be incubating the disease. Anyone who is ill with symptoms consistent with Ebola would be isolated until tests determine if the person is infected.

Returning healthcare workers will not be automatically slotted into the high-risk category. Instead, the guidelines say local public health authorities can decide on a case-by-case basis whether to require a returning medical worker to go into quarantine in their home or in a facility for 21 days.

The statement suggests that a healthcare worker who had been exposed to Ebola after having a breach in their personal protective equipment may be considered high risk.

The policy applies to all travellers from Ebola-affected countries. But because Canada has already stopped issuing visas to residents and nationals of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, in reality the policy will mostly apply to returning healthcare workers and people who work for humanitarian aid groups. AP