Ebola travel ban violation: Air France flight to US diverted to Canada

 

 

 

An Air France flight to the US has been diverted to Canada after an Ebola travel ban violation. An Air France flight from Paris to Detroit, USA was diverted to Montreal, Canada, after it was discovered that a passenger on board had violated a US travel ban related to the Ebola virus.

The emergency measure was prompted by new 30-day travel restrictions imposed by the US Department of Homeland Security and the CDC in the wake of the spread of the rare strain of Ebola virus spreading in the East African countries of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and South Sudan. The United States Customs and Border Protection said that the airline made a mistake by allowing a passenger from Congo to board the flight from Paris, despite the entry ban imposed on non-US passport holders who had visited these countries.

The plane made an emergency landing at Montreal's Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport on Wednesday evening after US authorities imposed a strict ban on entry into US airspace. Air France officials officially confirmed that there was no medical emergency on board and that the plane was diverted to comply with airline entry criteria. The passenger was removed from the plane as soon as it landed in Montreal. He underwent a detailed health check led by quarantine officers from the Public Health Agency of Canada. He was later sent back to Paris after it was confirmed that he had no symptoms.

The US authorities then allowed the plane with the other passengers to continue on to Detroit. The new Ebola outbreak, which has infected more than 600 people in Africa and caused more than 139 deaths, has been declared a public health emergency by the World Health Organization. In this context, screening and travel restrictions at US airports have been tightened.