“US Bars Direct Return of Citizens From Congo as Ebola Outbreak Widens”

The Trump administration is blocking American citizens in the Democratic Republic of Congo from flying directly home on commercial flights, according to a White House official, as the country’s Ebola outbreak continues to spread.

Under the order, issued Monday through a transportation authority known as Title 49, US citizens who are in Congo or have recently left will be placed on a federal “do-not-board” list until they have spent at least 21 days in a third country.

The State Department said it would assist affected Americans, including roughly two dozen who had been due to fly home on Tuesday, during the waiting period.

The move comes as Congo’s Ebola outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo strain, has grown to 1,926 confirmed cases and 702 deaths across multiple provinces, including areas just hours from the capital, Kinshasa.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. signed the order citing the escalating risk, days after the CDC confirmed that a US citizen working for a humanitarian organisation in Congo had tested positive for the virus.

Another American infected in the country was evacuated to Frankfurt University Hospital in Germany for treatment.

The policy marks one of the most restrictive measures taken since the outbreak began, and a former senior CDC official who led the agency’s response to the 2014-2015 West Africa Ebola epidemic described using the “do-not-board” list to bar low-risk citizens from returning home as unprecedented.

Critics, including public health experts, have warned the approach could push medical and public-health responsibility onto third countries, discourage American outbreak responders from volunteering, and even tempt travellers to conceal their itineraries.

The US has already pledged hundreds of millions of dollars toward the Ebola response and is building a quarantine facility in Kenya for citizens exposed to the virus, part of a broader effort Washington has framed around keeping the outbreak from reaching American soil.