U.S. CBP Confirms Travel Restrictions From Congo, Uganda, Burundi Over Ebola

The policy channels passengers from three African nations through designated airports with enhanced health screening, a measure that will affect an indeterminate number of travelers until the...

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency (CBP) confirmed on August 31, 2026, that travel restrictions remain in effect for flights carrying passengers who have departed from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, and Burundi, citing an ongoing Ebola outbreak, according to La Nacion.

Under the confirmed policy, aircraft carrying passengers from the three designated countries may only land at a limited set of U.S. Airports that have been authorized to conduct enhanced health screening procedures. The CBP has not publicly named a termination date for the measure, linking its duration to the status of the Ebola outbreak in the affected region.

Ebola virus disease is caused by the Ebola virus, a member of the Filoviridae family. It carries a case fatality rate that has historically ranged from 25 percent to 90 percent in past outbreaks, according to the World Health Organization. The virus transmits through direct contact with bodily fluids of infected persons, and is not transmitted through air, water, or food under standard conditions.

The Democratic Republic of Congo has recorded more Ebola outbreaks than any other country. The 2018 to 2020 outbreak in the country's North Kivu and Ituri provinces was the second-largest in recorded history, producing more than 3,400 confirmed and probable cases and more than 2,200 deaths, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The inclusion of Uganda and Burundi in the current CBP restriction indicates that the active outbreak has spread beyond Congolese borders, or that cross-border movement has been assessed as a transmission risk. The specific geographic zones within each country covered by the restriction were not detailed in the CBP's public announcement, and further specificity on that question would require the release of the agency's internal epidemiological assessment.

The United States has used airport-based health screening as a response tool to international disease outbreaks on prior occasions. During the 2014 to 2016 West African Ebola epidemic, the CBP and the CDC jointly implemented enhanced entry screening at five major U.S. Airports: John F. Kennedy International, Newark Liberty International, Washington Dulles International, Chicago O'Hare International, and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, according to CDC records from that period.

The current restriction affects passengers, not citizens exclusively, meaning that U.S. Nationals returning from the three listed countries would also be required to route through the designated screening airports. The exact list of airports currently authorized under the 2026 measure has not been disclosed in the publicly available CBP statement cited by La Nacion.

Passengers who transit through a country not on the restricted list before arriving in the United States may or may not fall under the measure's scope. The CBP statement, as reported, does not clarify how transit routing affects eligibility for screening, and that question would require direct agency clarification to answer.

The three countries named in the restriction have combined a population of approximately 130 million people, based on current World Bank estimates. Commercial air travel volume between those countries and the United States is not uniform: the DRC and Uganda both have established flight corridors to Europe, from which connecting service to the United States is common, meaning the practical reach of the restriction extends to connecting itineraries and not solely direct routes.

The CBP operates under the Department of Homeland Security and holds authority over the inspection of all persons and goods entering the United States. Its public health coordination role operates in parallel with, and at times in conjunction with, the CDC's Division of Global Migration and Quarantine. Neither agency has issued a joint public statement on the current Ebola-related measures as of the date of this report, September 2, 2026.