U.S. blocks citizens in Congo from flying home amid Ebola outbreak

The Trump administration began blocking American citizens in the Democratic Republic of Congo from boarding commercial flights to the United States, placing them on a do-not-board list while Ebola spread through the country. Travelers in Congo, and those who recently left, must spend at least 21 days in a third country before they can fly home.

The State Department will support affected Americans and others during the waiting period, including transportation to safe locations and access to a consular hotline. It had already set up an interagency coordination cell in Washington on May 15, activated a dedicated Ebola Response Task Force on May 18, and provided an initial $13 million in foreign assistance within 48 hours of that response.

The World Health Organization confirmed the outbreak in May 2026. It involves the Bundibugyo species of Ebola and has no vaccine or specific treatment. As of July 1, the WHO counted 1,460 confirmed cases and 452 deaths, with 102 cases and 25 deaths among health and care workers. Infections have spread across 36 health zones in Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu provinces, often through unknown chains of transmission.

A laboratory-confirmed case in France was tied to a doctor returning from Congo on June 24. On July 11, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that a U.S. citizen working for a humanitarian organization in Congo had tested positive for Ebola. The Department of Health and Human Services warned of rising risk, including spread to places only hours outside Kinshasa, the capital.

The CDC and the Department of Homeland Security had already imposed enhanced screening for recent travelers from Congo, Uganda and South Sudan, routing some arrivals through designated airports including Dulles, Atlanta, Houston and JFK. A separate Title 42 order covered foreign nationals. Daniel Jernigan, who led the CDC’s 2014-2015 Ebola response, called the policy unprecedented and warned it could shift responsibility to third countries and make future outbreak response harder to staff.