US modifies quarantine guidelines after uproar

US health authorities yesterday issued new guidelines for health workers returning from Ebola-hit nations after a firestorm of criticism over state quarantine restrictions, including from the UN chief.

The enforced quarantine in New Jersey of a US nurse who had come home after treating patients in Sierra Leone sparked controversy -- and accusations from the woman that her rights had been violated.

The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) yesterday urged active monitoring of those at risk following stints in the countries hardest hit by the epidemic -- Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

"Active direct monitoring" means high-risk people must be checked for fever daily for 21 days, and must restrict their travel and public activities for the duration of the virus's incubation period, the CDC said, in an update of previous guidelines.

The new guidelines -- which the CDC does not have the power to enforce on a national level -- stop short of a strict quarantine.

That is the standard New Jersey and New York states had adopted, following the first confirmed case of the disease in New York -- a doctor who had treated patients in Guinea.

Those measures drew criticism from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and in Washington.

"Returning health workers are exceptional people who are giving of themselves for humanity," Ban said.

"They should not be subjected to restrictions that are not based on science. Those who develop infections should be supported, not stigmatised," he said in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.