By: Kanwal Abidi .
White House Press Office USA : The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to preventing, detecting and responding to health emergencies globally. On September 27, Rwanda’s Ministry of Health announced an outbreak of Marburg Virus Disease (MVD) and the Biden-Harris Administration is working closely with the Government of Rwanda to end the MVD outbreak as quickly as possible. As we have all experienced in recent years, health emergencies are a global issue we must address together. CDC assesses that the risk of infection with this virus in the United States is low, and there are currently no confirmed MVD cases outside of Rwanda.
Since learning of this outbreak, the United States has committed to making nearly $11 million available to address urgent health needs in Rwanda and surrounding countries, including support for surveillance and contact tracing, infection prevention and control guidance, and exit screening at Rwanda’s airport and neighboring border crossings. And within days of learning of the MVD outbreak, CDC deployed three senior scientists to Rwanda to support its response. Although there are currently no FDA-approved vaccines or drugs against MVD, the United States contributed hundreds of investigational vaccine doses and a small number of investigational therapeutics doses, which arrived in Rwanda this weekend. The United States has also contributed more than 500 MVD tests and 500 units of personal protective equipment, which have arrived in Rwanda to support response efforts and protect health workers.
In times of crisis, we must work together to quickly save lives. The Government of Rwanda has taken action to contain this outbreak and protect the health and wellbeing of the Rwandan people, and the United States will continue supporting those efforts. We must also continue to build preparedness between crises, which is why the United States has supported global health security work for more than two decades to help build capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to infectious disease threats across the world.
Even as we respond to crises abroad, the top priority for the Biden-Harris Administration is protecting the American people. To keep Americans safe, we are implementing additional precautions for a small, select group of travelers arriving in the United States from Rwanda, including additional public health entry screenings. To facilitate these precautions, the United States will finalize plans in the coming week to redirect passengers who were recently in Rwanda to certain U.S. airports for public health entry screening and follow up measures. These measures will advance ongoing efforts to protect public health and reduce the risk of MVD coming into the United States.
