DHS routes flights from 3 African countries to Dulles Airport amid Ebola outbreak

The Department of Homeland Security is mandating that all flights coming into the U.S. with travelers who have been in Uganda, the Congo and South Sudan within the last 21 days be routed to the Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia.

The drafted rule went into effect Thursday and will only impact passenger flights. Cargo flights have been exempted from the restrictions.

The new rule comes on the heels of an Ebola outbreak in parts of Africa and was instituted as a mitigation measure to prevent the disease from spreading further, according to DHS.

Entry restrictions will be put on non-U.S. passport holders who have been in the three African countries in the previous 21 days, a DHS spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added that travelers who experience symptoms of Ebola within 21 days of traveling to affected countries should seek medical attention and monitor travel health notices from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

DHS did not immediately respond to questions about why these flights were being routed to Dulles or what protocols passengers would face when arriving.

Crystal L. Nosal, a spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority that oversees Dulles, said the effort includes “providing staff and public safety resources as needed.”

The authority is not expecting that this will have “any significant impacts” on customers, she said. Nosal did not know how many flights would be affected when asked Thursday morning.

The CDC implemented travel restrictions barring individuals who do not have U.S. passports and who traveled to South Sudan, Uganda or the Congo in the past 21 days from entering the country. How that guidance will affect the new rule is unclear.

The World Health Organization declared the Ebola outbreak an international public health emergency on Sunday after Africa’s top public health body confirmed a new outbreak in the Ituri Province of Congo on Friday.