Plane diverted to Canada after DRC passenger boards flight to Detroit

A plane bound for Detroit has been diverted to Canada after a passenger from the Ebola-hit Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) boarded the flight "in error", US officials say.

A US Customs and Border Protection spokesperson said the passenger "should not have boarded" the plane leaving from Paris on Wednesday due to US entry restrictions to reduce the risk of Ebola spreading.

The spokesman said officials "took decisive action and prohibited the flight carrying that traveller from landing at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, and instead, diverted to Montreal, Canada".

Air France said the Congolese passenger was denied entry into the US due to new regulations requiring travellers from certain countries, including the DRC, to enter only through Washington, DC.

The Department of Homeland Security said that, as of Thursday, all US-bound American citizens and permanent residents who have been in DRC, Uganda, or South Sudan in the previous 21 days must enter only through Washington Dulles International Airport for enhanced screening.

Craig Currie, spokesperson for the Public Health Agency of Canada, said a quarantine officer in Montreal assessed the traveller and determined they were asymptomatic. He said the traveller had flown back to Paris.

"Air France flight AFR378, along with all other passengers, continued to its original destination of Detroit," Mr Currie said.

Arson attack at Ebola treatment centre as anger grows over outbreak

Residents set fire to an Ebola treatment centre in eastern DRC on Thursday after being stopped from retrieving a victim's body, as fear and anger grow over a health crisis doctors are struggling to contain.

The arson attack in Rwampara, in the heart of the country's outbreak, shows how stringent measures to curb the virus can clash with local customs such as burial rites.

The bodies of those who die from Ebola can be highly contagious and lead to further spread when people prepare bodies for burial and gather for funerals.

The dangerous work of burying suspected victims is being managed wherever possible by authorities, which can be met by protests from victims' families and friends.

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Sunday declared the Ebola outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.

The outbreak is linked to the Bundibugyo virus, and there is no available vaccine or medicine for it.

The strain, which is rarer than other viruses that cause Ebola disease, spread undetected for weeks following the first known death while authorities tested for a more common Ebola virus.

Healthcare workers and aid groups are struggling to respond, as experts say the outbreak is much larger than officially reported.

There were 160 suspected deaths and 671 suspected cases in DRC's two provinces, Congolese authorities said on Thursday. Earlier in the week, the United Nations said there were two cases, including one death, in neighbouring Uganda.

The WHO's director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said he was "deeply concerned about the scale and speed of the epidemic" and that it is likely much larger than the official case count.

WHO's chief in DRC said the outbreak could last at least two months.

Early detection of the virus is key in saving lives, but the region's already weak health infrastructure and surveillance capacity have been further weakened by international aid cuts, experts say.

Armed conflict in the region further complicates efforts to handle the crisis.

Local leaders said an attack by militants linked to the Islamic State group killed at least 17 people on Tuesday in Alima, a village in the Ituri Province at the centre of the outbreak.

AP