Australia instigates Ebola-prompted ban on travel

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   Australia instigates Ebola-prompted ban on travel from West Africa

By Euan McKirdy, CNN

updated 8:59 AM EDT, Tue October 28, 2014

(CNN) -- In the fight against Ebola, Australia has said: No thanks.

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison announced "strong controls" on arrivals from West African countries affected by cases of the deadly disease.

Telling Australia's parliament during a question time session Monday that his ministry was currently "not processing any application from these (Ebola) affected countries," he said that the government was also suspending its humanitarian program.

He added that holders of permanent Australian visas based in these countries would be subject to a mandatory, three-week quarantine process prior to their departure. Visitors approved to travel to Australia will also face further screening and followup checks upon arrival.

The announcement came as a "surprise," the Australian Medical Association (AMA) president Brian Owler told CNN, who said that the chance of the disease entering the country through a migrant from the region was very low.

"It's not necessarily a very well-focused decision. The bigger picture needs to be on our preparedness at home but more importantly our involvement in West Africa itself, putting doctors and nurses and other logistical elements in place and trying to combat the crisis there."

He added that the government had sought the advice of "very few people," and had excluded the AMA.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said: "I not always agree with the Australian Medical Association, but I take them seriously and I think that the AMA invariably has the national interest at heart."

The announcement that no refugees will be accepted from West Africa must be overturned, the Australian Greens have said.

"While the government drags its feet in responding to the Ebola crisis, Scott Morrison has slammed the door on West African refugees," the Greens' immigration spokesperson, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

"The immigration minister's crusade against those in need has spread to West Africa and is simply unacceptable.

"This miserly, selfish and cruel announcement from the government is not a reflection of our nation's character."

'Make advice public'

The main opposition party called on the government to make the advice that informed its policy public.

"We want the government to release the advice on which this decision has been made," Labor's foreign affairs spokesman Matt Thistlethwaite said.

"We need to be absolutely certain that this government isn't being tough but dumb when it comes to protecting Australians from the risk of Ebola infection at home," Thistlethwaite was quoted by the ABC as saying.

Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan told CNN's Richard Quest that isolationism was not the answer to the current health crisis.

"The doctors from (the) WHO, to the CDC here and other countries have indicated that the worst thing you want to do is close off the borders and come up with this sort of restrictions and scare away potential help," he said.

"Our concern should be with the public safety and public health but we have to accept that the only way we can deal with it in the medium to long term is to stop the epidemic."

Concerns are being raised that the Australian response is largely engineered to create political capital, particularly given the country's well-documented hard line on immigration.

"There have been people here in Australia that have been asking for this kind of approach and I think the main drive is political," Owler said. "Of course it will always be dressed up as a solution to keeping Australians safe but in actual fact the people who are coming from West Africa, a number of them are coming on humanitarian grounds so there are concerns about why their visas are being denied, and for what period of time they'll be denied for."

The nonprofit Medicines Sans Frontiers, also known as Doctors Without Borders, echoed the sentiment, saying that "developed countries' prevention strategies ... seem to have more political than medical implications."

Abbott defended the government's decision, pointing to an AUS $18 million ($15.9 million) investment to combat the spread of the disease in West Africa, saying his "government are taking very serious steps to address the Ebola crisis."

He added that the Australian authorities "are continuing to talk to our friends and partners about what more might be done to address the situation in West Africa," and that he did "not rule out Australia doing more."

The Australian move follows North Korea's tourist ban, also instigated over fears of the spread of the disease.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/28/world/asia/australia-immigration-policy-ebola/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

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arirish Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group Joined: June 19 2013 Location: Arkansas Status: Offline Points: 39215	Post Options Post Reply Quote arirish Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Australia instigates Ebola-prompted ban on travel Posted: October 28 2014 at 7:57am
	Australia instigates Ebola-prompted ban on travel from West Africa By Euan McKirdy, CNN updated 8:59 AM EDT, Tue October 28, 2014 (CNN) -- In the fight against Ebola, Australia has said: No thanks. Immigration Minister Scott Morrison announced "strong controls" on arrivals from West African countries affected by cases of the deadly disease. Telling Australia's parliament during a question time session Monday that his ministry was currently "not processing any application from these (Ebola) affected countries," he said that the government was also suspending its humanitarian program. He added that holders of permanent Australian visas based in these countries would be subject to a mandatory, three-week quarantine process prior to their departure. Visitors approved to travel to Australia will also face further screening and followup checks upon arrival. The announcement came as a "surprise," the Australian Medical Association (AMA) president Brian Owler told CNN, who said that the chance of the disease entering the country through a migrant from the region was very low. "It's not necessarily a very well-focused decision. The bigger picture needs to be on our preparedness at home but more importantly our involvement in West Africa itself, putting doctors and nurses and other logistical elements in place and trying to combat the crisis there." He added that the government had sought the advice of "very few people," and had excluded the AMA. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said: "I not always agree with the Australian Medical Association, but I take them seriously and I think that the AMA invariably has the national interest at heart." The announcement that no refugees will be accepted from West Africa must be overturned, the Australian Greens have said. "While the government drags its feet in responding to the Ebola crisis, Scott Morrison has slammed the door on West African refugees," the Greens' immigration spokesperson, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said. "The immigration minister's crusade against those in need has spread to West Africa and is simply unacceptable. "This miserly, selfish and cruel announcement from the government is not a reflection of our nation's character." 'Make advice public' The main opposition party called on the government to make the advice that informed its policy public. "We want the government to release the advice on which this decision has been made," Labor's foreign affairs spokesman Matt Thistlethwaite said. "We need to be absolutely certain that this government isn't being tough but dumb when it comes to protecting Australians from the risk of Ebola infection at home," Thistlethwaite was quoted by the ABC as saying. Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan told CNN's Richard Quest that isolationism was not the answer to the current health crisis. "The doctors from (the) WHO, to the CDC here and other countries have indicated that the worst thing you want to do is close off the borders and come up with this sort of restrictions and scare away potential help," he said. "Our concern should be with the public safety and public health but we have to accept that the only way we can deal with it in the medium to long term is to stop the epidemic." Concerns are being raised that the Australian response is largely engineered to create political capital, particularly given the country's well-documented hard line on immigration. "There have been people here in Australia that have been asking for this kind of approach and I think the main drive is political," Owler said. "Of course it will always be dressed up as a solution to keeping Australians safe but in actual fact the people who are coming from West Africa, a number of them are coming on humanitarian grounds so there are concerns about why their visas are being denied, and for what period of time they'll be denied for." The nonprofit Medicines Sans Frontiers, also known as Doctors Without Borders, echoed the sentiment, saying that "developed countries' prevention strategies ... seem to have more political than medical implications." Abbott defended the government's decision, pointing to an AUS $18 million ($15.9 million) investment to combat the spread of the disease in West Africa, saying his "government are taking very serious steps to address the Ebola crisis." He added that the Australian authorities "are continuing to talk to our friends and partners about what more might be done to address the situation in West Africa," and that he did "not rule out Australia doing more." The Australian move follows North Korea's tourist ban, also instigated over fears of the spread of the disease. http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/28/world/asia/australia-immigration-policy-ebola/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
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onefluover Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group Joined: April 21 2013 Location: Death Valleyish Status: Offline Points: 20151	Post Options Post Reply Quote onefluover Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: October 28 2014 at 4:10pm
	MONROVIA/FREETOWN (Reuters) - Australia became the first developed country on Tuesday to shut its borders to citizens of the countries worst-hit by the West African Ebola outbreak, a move those states said stigmatized healthy people and would make it harder to fight the disease. Australia's ban on visas for citizens of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea followed decisions by the U.S. military to quarantine soldiers returning from an Ebola response mission and some U.S. states to isolate aid workers. The United Nations said such measures could discourage vital relief work, making it harder to stop the spread of the deadly virus. "Anything that will dissuade foreign trained personnel from coming here to West Africa and joining us on the frontline to fight the fight would be very, very unfortunate," Anthony Banbury, head of the U.N. Ebola Emergency Response Mission (UNMEER), told Reuters in the Ghanaian capital Accra. Liberia's President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf urged Australia to reconsider its travel ban. "Anytime there's stigmatization, there's quarantine, there's exclusion of people, many of whom are just normal, then those of us who are fighting this epidemic, when we face that, we get very sad," she told a news conference. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, (R) visits the Western Area Emergency Respons … Neighboring Sierra Leone called the Australian move draconian. "It is discriminatory in that ... it is not (going) after Ebola but rather it is ... against the 24 million citizens of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea," Information Minister Alpha Kanu told Reuters. "Certainly, it is not the right way to go." The virus has killed almost 5,000 people since March, mostly in those three countries. Nine U.S. cases have prompted states such as New York and New Jersey to ignore federal advice and quarantine all health workers returning from the region. A Texas nurse who caught Ebola in the United States while treating an infected Liberian patient left hospital on Tuesday after being declared free of the disease. "I'm so grateful to be well, a smiling Amber Vinson, 29, told reporters at Emory University Hospital before hugging the doctors and nurses who treated her for two weeks. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, (C) visits the Western Area Emergency Respons … The arrival of the disease in the United States has prompted fierce debate there and in other developed countries about the best measures to prevent its spread. The World Health Organization says overly restrictive quarantines and travel bans will put people off volunteering to go to Africa, where relief workers are needed to help improve a health system to deal with the disease. "We desperately need international health workers ... They are really the key to this response,” WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said. World Bank chief Jim Yong Kim said the three worst hit countries needed 5,000 overseas health workers at any one time. "Those health workers cannot work continuously: there needs to be a rotation. So we will need many thousands of health workers over the next months to a year in order to bring this epidemic under control," he said an African Union meeting in Ethiopia. "Right now, I am very much worried where we will find those health workers." U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, speaks with Group Captain Paul Warwick, chief … MASS PANIC Even African countries with no Ebola cases have been angered by policies being implemented in richer countries. "Western countries are creating mass panic which is unhelpful in containing a contagious disease like Ebola," said Ugandan government spokesman Ofwono Opondo. "If they create mass panic ... this fear will eventually spread beyond ordinary people to health workers or people who transport the sick and then what will happen? Entire populations will be wiped out." Eighty-two people who had contact with a toddler who died of Ebola in Mali last week are being monitored, the WHO said, but no new cases have been reported there. A health worker checks the temperature of a woman leaving Guinea at the border with Mali in Kouremal … Mali became the sixth West African country to report a case of the disease. Senegal and Nigeria both stopped the virus by tracking down people who had had contact with those who brought it into their country and monitoring them for symptoms. American soldiers returning from West Africa are being isolated, even if they show no symptoms and are not believed to have been exposed to the virus. Army said Chief of Staff General Raymond Odierno ordered the 21-day monitoring period "to ensure soldiers, family members and their surrounding communities are confident that we are taking all steps necessary to protect their health". ADOPT AND ADAPT Dr. Jeff Duchin, chairman of the public health committee of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, said the isolation was not a necessary step. "From a public health perspective, we would not feel that isolation is appropriate," he said. A mask-wearing man, who refused to give his name, walks past an apartment building where a child was … The decision goes well beyond established military protocols and came as President Barack Obama's administration sought to discourage quarantines being imposed by some U.S. states. Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), called for isolation of people at the highest risk for Ebola infection but said most returning medical workers would require monitoring without isolation. "At CDC, we base our decisions on science and experience ... And as the science and experience changes, we adopt and adapt our guidelines and recommendations," Frieden said. Australia has not recorded a case of Ebola despite a number of scares, and conservative Prime Minister Tony Abbott has so far resisted repeated requests to send medical personnel to help battle the outbreak on the ground. Adam Kamradt-Scott, of the University of Sydney's Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity, said the travel ban would do nothing to protect the country from Ebola while potentially having a negative public health impact by creating a climate of panic. Medical professionals say Ebola is difficult to catch. It is spread through direct contact with bodily fluids from an infected person and not transmitted by asymptomatic people. (Writing by Jeremy Laurence and Robin Pomeroy; Editing by Peter Graff) http://www.google.com/gwt/x?u=http://news.yahoo.com/u-isolates-troops-australia-slaps-visa-ban-ebola-041640921.html&ei=0R9QVJ7-GYbbnwf63IDADQ&wsc=ib
	"And then there were none."