President Obama said Wednesday that United States cannot "hermitically seal itself off" from Ebola.
Obama's remarks come in the wake of several U.S. states enacting tighter restrictions on people coming from the Ebola stricken countries of West Africa. The governors of New York and New Jersey had announced Friday that all travelers who had contact with Ebola patients in West Africa will be placed under mandatory 21-day quarantine once they arrive in the country. The governors of Virginia and Maryland also said that all travelers from Ebola stricken countries in West Africa will be actively monitored by public health officials.
However, the White House is not in favor of imposing excessively restrictive measures like travel bans and quarantines.
"Yes, we are likely to see a possible case elsewhere outside of these countries, and that's true whether or not we adopt a travel ban, whether or not you adopt a quarantine," Obama said, reports the Associated Press.
He said that the if the administration discourages the country's health care workers willing to travel to Ebola stricken countries to help people, then it is not right .
Elaborating further, Obama said that health workers from the United States who have volunteered to go to West Africa are American heroes and people must treat them with dignity.
Addressing the topic of Pentagon's decision to impose a 21-day quarantine for U.S. military personnel returning from West Africa, Obama opined that the case of military is different from that of civilians , as military personnel are not serving in West Africa by choice.
Meanwhile, Britain's Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) has called for raising the funds for fighting the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
DEC, which comprises 13 of Britain's largest aid charities, said that certain regions in West Africa have to deal with a major disaster if immediate action was not taken to prevent the spread of the disease.
"The explosive spread of Ebola in west Africa is not just killing the infected but also ripping apart health services, devastating communities, and destroying people's ability to support themselves," DEC said in a statement, reports Reuters.
