Canada extends Ebola travel ban for another 30 days, suspending tens of thousands of applications

Canada will keep its ban on travellers from Ebola-affected countries for another 30 days, extending a policy that has suspended tens of thousands of immigration applications since May.

Decisions on permanent and temporary residency applications from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and South Sudan will remain on hold until Sept. 28. People from those countries who already hold valid Canadian visas are also barred from entering. The government says the risk of Ebola in Canada remains low but characterizes the measures as precautionary given the disease's severity.

As of Aug. 12, immigration officials had suspended 31,693 permanent residency applications and 10,465 temporary residency applications from overseas. An additional 1,534 permanent residents and 23,415 temporary residents already granted status but residing outside Canada also cannot enter.

Canada will maintain a 21-day quarantine requirement for anyone returning from the three countries — a measure aid agencies say blocks their ability to deploy humanitarians to the region. Foreign nationals who have been in the DRC within the past 21 days are also prohibited from flying to Canada.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, there have been 5,794 confirmed cases, including 2,786 related deaths. On Thursday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization declared the outbreak over in Uganda. No cases have been reported in South Sudan.

For people like Canadian Carolyn Nicol, stranded outside the country, the extension deepens the limbo. Nicol was living in Uganda when the ban took effect in May. Her husband, awaiting a spousal sponsorship decision and visitor visa, cannot enter Canada while she can. "Show me the science that says a Canadian can go to Canada and quarantine, but a Ugandan can't come at all," Nicol said. "Is the Canadian government trying to imply that somehow I'm less of a risk? Because, if so, that's just discrimination, plain and simple." She had already spent seven weeks apart from her husband after choosing to leave Uganda in May to attend family weddings she would have otherwise missed.