|
 Opposition groups hit out at the ban, calling the conservative
government's move mean-spirited and small-minded.
Australia came under fire from health experts and rights advocates
on Tuesday after it said that it would stop issuing visas to
citizens of Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, becoming the first
rich nation to shut its doors to the region.
The government touted the ban as a necessary precaution, but Dr. Lyn
Gilbert, a leading infectious disease expert who was earlier this
month placed in charge of the nation's response to the virus, said
there was no evidence to back its claim.
Gilbert is the top government medical official to speak out against
the ban, which was blasted by leaders in Liberia and Sierra Leone as
draconian and discriminatory.
"The evidence indicates that an asymptomatic traveler from an
Ebola-affected country, who has not had contact with a symptomatic
person suffering from Ebola in the last 21 days poses no risk to
anyone," she told Reuters.
The World Health Organization has similarly stated that an
asymptomatic traveler was not a risk of transmitting Ebola, and has
sharply spoken out against international travel bans. The World Bank
echoes this sentiment.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott defended widespread criticism of the ban
from the broader medical community, singling out the Australian
Medical Association, whose president had called the move not
"well-focused".
"I do not always agree with the Australian Medical Association, but
I take them seriously and I think that the A.M.A. invariably has the
national interest at heart," Abbott said.
Australia has not recorded a case of Ebola despite a number of
scares, and Abbott has so far resisted repeated requests to send
medical personnel to help battle the outbreak on the ground.
A number of U.S. states, including New York and New Jersey, have
imposed mandatory quarantines on returning doctors and nurses amid
fears of the virus spreading outside of West Africa. Federal health
officials say that approach is extreme.
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GOVT REBUKED AS HARD-HEARTED
Under the new rules, all non-permanent or temporary visas were being
canceled and permanent visa holders who had not yet arrived in
Australia will have to submit to a 21-day quarantine period.
The opposition Labor and Greens Parties hit out at the policy on
Wednesday, joining forces to pass a motion in the upper house Senate
to force the government to reveal the advice under which it
formulated the policy.
Greens Party Senator Sarah Hanson-Young blasted the ban, which she
said was an extension of other tough government policies that have
earned Australia rebukes from the United Nations, such as the
mandatory detention of asylum seekers.
"Banning refugees from West Africa is like shuttering up the windows
of a house while it burns to the ground," Hanson-Young said.
"Australians want to help fight Ebola, but they're being held back
by this mean-spirited, small-minded and hard-hearted Abbott
government."
The Ebola outbreak that began in March has killed nearly 5,000
people, the vast majority in West Africa.
The disease has an incubation period of about three weeks, and only
becomes contagious when a victim shows symptoms. Ebola, which can
cause fever, vomiting and diarrhea, spreads through contact with
bodily fluids such as blood or saliva.
(Reporting by Matt Siegel; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)
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