Aid workers say Canada’s Ebola quarantine hinders response, hope it won’t be extended

TORONTO - On the eve of Lily-Madeleine Seguin's departure for the Democratic Republic of Congo in late May, the Canadian government imposed a three-week quarantine on travellers returning from the Ebola-affected nation. Seguin, a public health promotion adviser with Oxfam, had her travel cleared, but she never left. The quarantine was inexplicable given her prior Ebola responses in the region and an upcoming sabbatical.

Today, as the quarantine period nears its end, Seguin and other Canadian humanitarian workers are pleading with the government to reconsider the 21-day mandatory quarantine for those returning from the DRC, Uganda, or South Sudan. The World Health Organization reports this is the quickest-growing Ebola outbreak in history, with over 2,500 deaths out of more than 5,000 infections.

Canadian officials claim they are evaluating the regulations alongside international partners before making a final decision before the quarantine's expiration next week.