Visas denied, jobs on hold: How some Kenyans are paying price of Ebola fears
Some countries are said to be quietly rejecting visa applications from African countries that have recorded Ebola cases, including Kenya.
A number of Kenyans are reporting that, in the last three weeks, they have been encountering visa rejections, lengthy airport scrutiny in some countries and orders to stay away from jobs abroad until further notice.
Some countries are said to be quietly rejecting visa applications from African countries that have recorded Ebola cases, including Kenya. And recently, a cruise ship firm asked Kenyan staff not to board and return to work until the health situation became clearer. Meanwhile, there have been reports that some airport officials are keeping travellers from African countries, Kenya included, in a room to watch for symptoms.
Nation spoke to some workers and travellers, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals. Their accounts show how fear of Ebola is crossing borders faster than the virus.
One traveller who was headed to the United States said a US airport held her for almost eight hours. Airport staff told her she had to be monitored for Ebola symptoms before they could release her. She walked out only in the evening.
She had landed in the morning on her way to a conference. The wait, she said, "completely messed me up." She said the rule was being applied indiscriminately to travellers from African countries, including those from nations that have not recorded a single Ebola case.
On Friday, Uganda banned travellers who have recently been in the Democratic Republic of Congo from transiting through its territory, while citizens will be quarantined for 21 days. Such decisions are driven by fears of further Ebola spread.
Kenya has opted for a different approach. It has imposed no restrictions on travel or trade, in line with World Health Organisation recommendations. At the Trust Summit in Nairobi last week, Health Principal Secretary Mary Muthoni Muriuki said countries that report outbreaks quickly and honestly "must be met with support, not sanctions."
She warned that fear of travel bans and stigma could tempt governments to delay reporting. That is the risk. If honesty about a case costs a country its visas, flights and jobs, the next government will think twice before reporting.
Kenya says its own screening is working. The PS said more than 700,000 travellers have been screened so far, and that five laboratories can now return Ebola results within hours.
US Chargé d'Affaires Susan Burns addressed the issue at the summit. She said Washington and Nairobi held different views on the matter, and that such differences were normal.
"This is an area where we may have differences in opinion, but it's okay to express them because we have trust, right?" she said.
She said the American travel advisory on Kenya is meant for Americans.
"A travel advisory just means information that we're putting out to inform American citizens. It has nothing to do with restrictions," she said. The US issued it, she said, to share notice that Ebola has been reported in Kenya, with one index case and the rest of the cases already in quarantine.
She said the United States does not stop its own citizens from travelling. "We don't restrict private American citizens. But we advise, and it's up to those citizens to decide what they would like to do," she said.
On Kenyans travelling to the United States, she said, "There are no restrictions other than the normal visa issues, which you're all aware of."
PS Muthoni urged Kenyans not to read too much into each travel statement. If there is a problem, she said, it is a diplomatic matter, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would take it up bilaterally. She reminded the room that Kenya is the gateway to East Africa, so more people, goods and services pass through it.
"Let us not overthink, but let us deal with the case as it comes," she said.
Writing on LinkedIn, CNN's Larry Madowo said El Salvador had denied his visa application. He attributed the decision to a ban on travellers from Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo linked to Ebola concerns.
He said citizens of Uganda, Rwanda, Angola, Ethiopia, Burundi and the Central African Republic are also on the list, even though the countries have no cases.
Israel's Ministry of Health has also urged immigration authorities to consider imposing a temporary entry ban on non-citizens who have visited Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan or the Democratic Republic of Congo in the past 21 days.
Workers appear to be among those most affected. Three Kenyans employed on cruise ships told the Nation that their employers had asked them not to return to work until Kenya is declared Ebola-free. Their cruise ship docked in Mombasa on October 10, four days after Kenya announced its first Ebola case. It remains unclear whether they will be paid during the wait. They said their employers had not told them whether their salaries would continue.
That declaration is not close. Seven patients are still in treatment. The Ministry of Health announced on October 23 that a 65-year-old woman had died, bringing the toll to two among nine confirmed cases. Under the WHO's usual practice, an outbreak is declared over only after a set period without new cases.
Experts point to how Ebola actually spreads. Independent pathologist Dr Ahmed Kalebi said the virus does not spread like a cold or flu.
"Ebola is not airborne. Transmission occurs through direct contact with infectious body fluids of symptomatic patients or contaminated materials," he said.
He also said people who have been exposed are not infectious until they fall ill.
"Quarantined contacts are not infectious before developing symptoms," Dr Kalebi said.
He said monitoring is built around exposure. "Each contact's monitoring period must be calculated from their last potential exposure," he said. Ebola's incubation period runs from two to 21 days. A traveller who has had no contact with a patient has no exposure to count.
Prof Shem Otoi, an infectious disease modelling expert at Daystar University, said the pattern of Kenya's infections points to how the patients were exposed, not to spread beyond the cluster.
"These people were in the same space. They were in very close proximity with the index patient," he said. "So far we haven't had community transmission."
All nine Kenyan cases are linked to one family and care cluster tied to the first patient. The Ministry says there is no evidence of spread outside it.
According to a WHO explainer, a person infected with Ebola may feel well for between two and 21 days. Early symptoms can resemble malaria, influenza or a stomach infection. Most airports and border crossings rely on temperature checks, health declarations and visual assessments rather than Ebola testing. As a result, a traveller with no fever may pass through undetected and cross several countries before developing symptoms.
That is the gap screening measures and travel restrictions are intended to address. It also explains why Kenya's first Ebola patient, who travelled through Uganda, is being closely watched beyond the country's borders.
But the same explainer says casual contact with an infected person, without contact with body fluids, is not considered a risk.
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