US urges Europe to step up travel measures to prevent spread of Ebola from Africa

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Trump administration is telling European nations that they need to step up their travel restrictions for people coming to the continent from Ebola-hit countries in Africa, hinting that failure to do so may result in increased U.S. regulations on travel from Europe, including for the World Cup soccer tournament.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday called European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to convey the concerns and “to discuss U.S. and European coordination and response efforts to the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda,” the State Department said in a statement.

“The department´s highest priority and focus remain protecting the health of the American people and preventing this Ebola outbreak from reaching our shores,” it said.

A State Department official was more blunt, saying the U.S. “has stepped up” to confront the outbreak and “now the world must do more to step up as well.”

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private call between Rubio and von der Leyen, said it’s time for action and that without it, transatlantic travel could be affected.

The official said the U.S. wants to see action that includes financial contributions to combat the disease and “commonsense restrictions on travel from the affected area.”

The World Cup tournament opens Thursday in Mexico and unfolds over nearly six weeks, with the United States hosting most of the games.

The Trump administration has banned travelers who have been in one of the affected countries in the previous three weeks from entering the United States and is establishing quarantine procedures for affected American citizens returning home from those places.

There are relatively few direct flights between Africa and the United States per day but more than 300 direct daily flights between Europe and the United States.

The U.S. says it has contributed more than $200 million to efforts to end the outbreak in Congo and Uganda since it was first confirmed last month.

The European Union announced earlier Tuesday that it was boosting its Ebola response funding by 16.5 million euros ($19 million) on top of 15 million euros ($17.3 million) related to the outbreak that it contributed last month. The European Union delegation in Washington had no immediate response about Rubio’s call with von der Leyen.

Democrats assailed Rubio during congressional hearings last week about the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development and the impact that may have had on the Ebola response. Rubio insisted that early detection programs have been rolled into health deals struck with African countries and that the U.S. “response has been very quick.”