New York’s John F. Kennedy airport, the busiest American airport for international arrivals, will open Friday as the fourth US airport through which citizens traveling from countries impacted by the ongoing Ebola outbreak will be allowed to enter the United States, according to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol.
Travelers wearing masks look up at a sign inside John F. Kennedy Airport on April 19, 2022.
THURSDAY, MAY 28, 2026The customs agency announces JFK will join Washington-Dulles, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta and George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston as airports allowed to accept (and health screen) passengers who have been to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda or South Sudan within the last 21 days, the latest in a number of travel restrictions the government has implemented in response to the Ebola epidemic.
WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus travels to Congo and, in an open letter to residents bearing the brunt of a deadly Ebola outbreak, asked local militias to declare a ceasefire and pleaded with young people to “share what you know about Ebola” and “help break the fear and silence that allow this virus to spread.”
Ghebreyesus says his agency is working to scale up Ebola diagnostic capacities in Congo in an effort to identify cases earlier and stop the rapidly spreading disease, and also referenced the challenges health officials face in the region including a decades-long ethnic conflict, misinformation and distrust.
