Ebola..

 

US health authorities said they plan to temporarily bar permanent residents of the country from reentering if they’ve traveled recently to Ebola-affected areas in a new rule published Friday.

The move escalates the Trump administration’s reliance on travel restrictions in response to the fast-spreading outbreak in central Africa linked to hundreds of cases and 177 suspected deaths. The revision to quarantine rules lets the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention block lawful permanent residents, commonly known as green-card holders, from entering if they’ve traveled to countries where the virus is spreading.

That would intensify the restrictions announced earlier this week barring travel to the US for people who had been in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda or South Sudan in the prior 21 days. That order didn’t apply to US citizens, nationals or lawful permanent residents.

The CDC said in a statement that the rule won’t permanently bar affected green-card holders but provides the agency the authority to restrict entry when necessary. The rule said the decision stems from resource constraints and the fact that green-card holders are more likely to have ties to people who live living outside the US, making their inability to return to US soil less burdensome.