--- description: The country closed its borders to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone title: South Africa Bans Travelers from West Africa Because of Ebola image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaada09c81bf52762/6986a02335ba6f2e9dc03773/507063921.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [South Africa](/tag/south-africa/) ## South Africa Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # South Africa Bans Travelers from West Africa Because of Ebola  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent Aug 21, 2014 10:56 PM CUT  Ebola virus diagram Ebola virus diagramGetty Images  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent Aug 21, 2014 10:56 PM CUT South Africa has closed its borders to any non-citizens traveling from Ebola-infected areas. The country will not allow in anyone traveling from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, and all non-essential outgoing travel to West Africa is prohibited. Citizens traveling from affected countries will be put through a screening process, the health ministry said on Thursday, [according to the BBC](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-28879020 "undefined"). South Africa does not have any cases of Ebola yet, though they have had two scares in recent weeks. As of August 18, 1,350 people have died of Ebola during this outbreak. \[[_BBC_](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-28879020 "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3155669/south-africa-bans-travelers-from-west-africa-because-of-ebola/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3155669/south-africa-bans-travelers-from-west-africa-because-of-ebola/"},"headline":"South Africa Bans Travelers from West Africa Because of Ebola","datePublished":"2014-08-21T22:56:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:48:06.660Z","description":"The country closed its borders to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone","url":"https://time.com/3155669/south-africa-bans-travelers-from-west-africa-because-of-ebola/","keywords":["South Africa"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaada09c81bf52762/6986a02335ba6f2e9dc03773/507063921.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaada09c81bf52762/6986a02335ba6f2e9dc03773/507063921.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"507063921","caption":"507063921","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/south-africa/","name":"South Africa"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3155669/south-africa-bans-travelers-from-west-africa-because-of-ebola/","name":"South Africa Bans Travelers from West Africa Because of Ebola"}}]}] ```