Amid reports of an Ebola outbreak in Africa, the State Department has shut down several embassies, while the CDC has paused people in the affected countries from entering the United States.
“Effective May 18, 2026, the U.S. Embassies in Juba, South Sudan; Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo; and Kampala, Uganda have temporarily paused all visa services,” the State Department said. “This pause includes applications for immigrant visas as well as nonimmigrant visas for tourists, business travelers, students, exchange visitors, and all other nonimmigrant categories. Affected visa applicants have been notified. We will update our website when appointment scheduling resumes and inform applicants whose appointments were rescheduled.”
According to the CDC’s public health order, the agency “suspends the right to introduce ‘covered aliens,’ as defined herein, into the United States for a period of thirty days, subject to the outcome of an ongoing comprehensive public health risk assessment.” The order is “necessary to protect the health of the United States from the serious risk posed by the introduction of Ebola disease into the United States by covered aliens based on the emergent outbreak of Ebola disease caused by the Bundibugyo virus strain confirmed present in Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda.”
The State Department also said that it had established a group to monitor and track any developments and “communicate with American citizens in the region.”
“Our first goal has been to ensure the safety of Americans abroad and the protection of the American homeland,” it stated. “The Department’s coordination cell worked closely to update the Department’s travel advisories to reflect circumstances on the ground and provide American citizens with travel risk information and guidance.”
