Any individual entering the United States who has been to Uganda within the past twenty-one days will be rerouted to one of five airports for “enhanced screening,” as an Ebola outbreak in the East African nation continues to spread, according to a new Politico report.

The Biden administration confirmed that the passengers will be flown to airports in New York, Newark, Atlanta, Chicago, or Washington, where the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection will conduct the screening, according to a notification released by the U.S. Embassy in Uganda. The screening will include a temperature check, risk assessment, visual symptom check, and contact information verification.

Currently, there are no cases of Ebola circulating in the United States, and “the risk of Ebola domestically is currently low,” the embassy said.

According to a health advisory posted by the CDC, no airlines fly directly from Uganda to the United States, but “travelers from or passing through affected areas in Uganda can enter the United States on flights connecting from other countries.”

“CDC is working closely with the Ministry of Health of Uganda, the World Health Organization (WHO), and other partners to support the response to this outbreak,” the agency continued.

As of Wednesday, the Ebola outbreak in Uganda has killed twenty-nine people, including four health care workers. There have been more than sixty confirmed and probable cases reported since the outbreak started in mid-September, according to the WHO. The country has experienced four previous Ebola outbreaks, with the deadliest one in 2000 leaving more than 200 people dead.

Ebola is a severe, often fatal illness usually causing fever, fatigue, and muscle pain at the start. Victims then suffer from vomiting, diarrhea, rash, and in some cases internal and external bleeding. The virus boasts a high mortality rate of about 50 percent—with the percentage sometimes even hitting 90 percent in past outbreaks—but the disease is known to be much more difficult to transmit to others when compared to Covid-19. The chief reason is that it is not an airborne infection—instead, much like HIV or hepatitis, it can only spread via direct contact.

When an individual becomes infected with Ebola, he or she does not start developing signs or symptoms immediately. This period between exposure to an illness and having symptoms is known as the incubation period, which is similar to what has been witnessed with Covid-19. The major difference, though, is that a person can only spread Ebola to others after they develop signs and symptoms of the virus.

Ethen Kim Lieser is a Washington state-based Finance and Tech Editor who has held posts at Google, The Korea Herald, Lincoln Journal Star, AsianWeek, and Arirang TV. Follow or contact him on LinkedIn.

Image: Reuters.