PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti - Haiti’s Public Health Minister, Bertrand Sinal, says any person travelling to the country from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda would need to spend at least 21 days in a third country not affected by Ebola before being allowed into the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country.
Public Health Minister, Bertrand Sinal, delivering the video address.In a video message, Sinal said that the measures were necessary given that the two African countries more than 1,100 cases of the virus and more than 300 deaths.
“We made these decisions because the Haitian health system is not ready to face a possible Ebola epidemic if the virus were to enter the national territory,” said Sinal, adding that Haiti does not have the logistical resources nor the territorial control necessary to impose or manage a national quarantine or large-scale isolation centers.
He said that the priority now is focused on the current humanitarian and hospital crisis in Port-au-Prince and that the Ministry of the Interior as well as the National Airport Authority (AAN) have been made aware of the new policy.
Sinal said that international and humanitarian organizations operating in Haiti apply their own rules of preventive isolation and 21-day screening for their personnel before their deployment on Haitian soil.
The Public Health Minister said that the 10 countries bordering these two Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, are also under close surveillance. These are South Sudan, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Congo (Brazzaville), Burundi, Angola, the Central African Republic (CAR) and Zambia.
