Seven American aid workers who had been battling the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo are now quarantined at a newly built isolation facility in central Kenya, following the introduction of new United States travel restrictions.
Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan’s Purse, the US charity that employs the workers, confirmed to Reuters that the group is being held under Kenyan government supervision. He said none of them are showing symptoms but are being quarantined for 21 days as a precaution.
The workers are the first people to be housed at the facility, a 50-bed bio-isolation unit built by the US government on an air force base, reportedly intended for Americans exposed to Ebola in Congo or Uganda. The project has triggered fierce opposition in Kenya and remains the subject of an active court case, with a judge having ordered work suspended pending a final ruling. Despite this, satellite imagery and US officials indicate construction has continued.
Washington’s new policy requires American citizens returning from Congo to spend three weeks in a third country before re-entering the United States, a move that has fuelled anger among Kenyans who see the arrangement as offloading health risk onto their country. Last month, Kenya’s health minister was found in contempt of court for failing to halt construction and subsequently ordered work stopped.
A US State Department official said the group had voluntarily relocated to the Kenya facility for precautionary monitoring, adding that Kenyan authorities had authorised their movement under the observation of US Public Health Service clinicians. Kenyan health and foreign ministry officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the development.
According to a source familiar with the matter, the workers arrived at the site on Monday and are sleeping in army cots inside tents. Some had treated Ebola patients directly at Samaritan’s Purse facilities in Congo, while others carried out non-medical roles such as construction. One case involves a potential high-risk exposure, with the individual’s health being closely monitored. The group is not permitted to leave the facility or travel elsewhere in Kenya.
The outbreak, caused by the rare Bundibugyo strain of the virus, has killed more than 800 people since mid-May, with the World Health Organization warning it remains largely undetected in some areas. One Samaritan’s Purse worker who contracted Ebola earlier this month was evacuated to a hospital in Germany for treatment.
Graham, who has been critical of the US travel restrictions, said he would support treating infected Americans within Kenya, describing the new facility as state-of-the-art following a recent tour.
