(NewsNation) — An Air France flight from Paris to Detroit was forced to divert to Montreal on Wednesday due to concerns that a passenger might be infected with Ebola, U.S. Customs and Border Protection confirmed Thursday.

One of the passengers on the Detroit-bound flight was from the Democratic Republic of Congo and boarded the flight “in error,” a CBP spokesperson wrote in a statement without clarifying when they had last been in their home country.

“Due to entry restrictions put in place to reduce the risk of the Ebola virus, the passenger should not have boarded the plane,” the spokesperson added. “CBP took decisive action and prohibited the flight carrying that traveler from landing at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, and instead, diverted to Montreal, Canada.”

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Air France said the flight was diverted “at the request of U.S. authorities” and confirmed there “was no medical emergency on board.”

Ebola travel restrictions in the U.S.

The State Department issued a health alert Thursday announcing people who have been in Uganda, South Sudan or the Congo within the past three weeks must enter the United States through Washington-Dulles International Airport in Virginia, just outside of Washington, D.C., for “enhanced public health screening.”

“Under a CDC Order effective May 18, 2026, certain non-U.S. citizens who were in DRC, South Sudan, or Uganda, within the past 21 days are temporarily prohibited from entering the United States,” the CDC confirmed Thursday.

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The agency invoked the order under Title 42, a law that allows the CDC director to block noncitizens from entering the U.S. for up to 30 days for public health purposes, as reported by NewsNation partner The Hill.

More than 130 suspected deaths so far from Ebola outbreak

The strain of Ebola causing issues, the Bundibugyo virus, is immune to vaccines and antibodies developed against the most common Ebola strain, according to CDC data. The virus has a death rate between 25% and 50%, and treatment consists only of supportive care.

The head of the World Health Organization said Wednesday the risk of global spread of the Ebola outbreak in Congo and Uganda is high at national and regional levels but low at the global level despite more than 130 deaths.

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“There are almost 600 suspected cases and 139 suspected deaths,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. “We expect those numbers to keep increasing.”

The Associated Press, NewsNation’s Sean Noone and partner The Hill contributed to this report.

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