US to Remove Mali From Ebola-Hit Nations List on January 6: CDC

US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and US Department of Homeland Security said in a joint press release that the United States will remove Mali from the list of countries whose passengers are required to undergo additional screening upon arrival to the US.

WASHINGTON, January 5 (Sputnik) — The United States will remove Mali from the list of Ebola-stricken countries whose passengers are required to undergo additional screening upon arrival to the United States on January 6, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and US Department of Homeland Security said in a joint press release Monday.

"On January 6, 2015, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will remove Mali from the list of Ebola-affected nations subject to enhanced visa and port-of-entry screening," the release said.

On November 17, Mali was added to the list of Ebola-hit nations whose passengers were allowed to enter the United States only through five airports with enhanced screening, namely JFK in New York, Newark in New Jersey, Dulles near Washington D.C., Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta, and O'Hare in Chicago.

Starting Tuesday, passengers whose flight originates in Mali will no longer be required to undergo enhanced screening and monitoring when entering the United States, nor will they be restricted to the five US airports.

Same day the CDC Alert Level 2 which advises US travellers to practice enhanced precautions while traveling to Mali will be lifted.

"January 6 will mark two incubation cycles (21 days each) since the last patient in Mali had any contact with a person who was not wearing personal protective equipment," the press release explains.

The current outbreak of the Ebola virus started in Guinea in December 2013, spreading into Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Senegal and Mali in 2014.

A total of six people have died from Ebola in Mali, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Some 8,000 people have died from the Ebola virus in total, with the number of confirmed, probable and suspected cases exceeding 20,000, WHO data shows.