CANBERRA, Australia -- Australia said Wednesday that it is again issuing entry visas to visitors from Congo because it has been declared Ebola-free, but residents of West African nations still grappling with the deadly disease remained banned.
The World Health Organization's declaration will allow more than 200 visa applications from Congo that had been suspended since last month to be processed, Australian Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said.
Australia suspended entry visas for Congo, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea four weeks ago in a bid to keep Ebola out of the country. There have been no cases of the disease reported in Australia.
The United Nations urged countries against shutting their borders to Ebola-affected countries, warning that such measures were a barrier to relief workers, making it harder to stop the spread of the disease.
Congolese officials announced Nov. 15 an end to their country's separate Ebola outbreak that killed dozens of people but was unrelated to the Ebola epidemic that has swept West Africa and killed more than 5,000.
