Australia issues ban on travelers from Ebola-affected countries

SYDNEY, Oct. 28 (UPI) -- Australia announced Monday it has temporarily issued travel bans on travelers from the West African countries hardest hit by the Ebola outbreak.

Immigration and Border Protection Minister Scott Morrison informed Parliament of the government's decision to impose the ban on immigrants and asylum seekers from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

"This means we are not processing any application from these affected countries."

Those who arrived from the Ebola-affected countries prior to the suspension, he said, have been subject to pre-departure, on-arrival and post-arrival health checks.

"The government's systems and processes are working to protect Australians," he told Parliament.

Permanent visa holders attempting to return to Australia must undergo a 21-day quarantine prior to travel to Australia.

The government's travel ban was a "surprise" to the Australian Medical Association.

"It's not necessarily a very well-focused decision," AMA President Brian Owler told CNN.

"The bigger picture needs to be on our preparedness at home but more importantly our involvement in West Africa itself, putting doctors and nurses and other logistical elements in place and trying to combat the crisis there."

The U.S. government has been reticent to impose a travel ban on Ebola-affected countries.

While President Barack Obama has acknowledged he would consider a ban if it were in the country's best interest, his consultations with experts to date, he said, show "that a travel ban is less effective than the measures that we are currently instituting that involve screening passengers who are coming from West Africa -- first of all, screening them before they get on the plane there to see whether they're showing signs of the disease -- and screening them again when they get here, taking their temperature."

The White House has cautioned that a travel ban could prompt travelers from Ebola-affected countries to withhold their travel history and seek alternate routes to enter the U.S. Obama warned that such "broken travel" could result in "more cases rather than less."