Seven American aid workers who previously worked in Congo to respond to the Ebola outbreak are quarantining at a newly established isolation facility in Kenya, according to the head of a U.S. charity that employs them. Reuters reports that the quarantine follows the U.S. government’s introduction of travel restrictions. The reports add that these are the first known individuals to quarantine at the facility, which has drawn significant opposition in Kenya.
The facility is also central to a legal dispute there. A court has ordered work on the project to be suspended, while U.S. officials and satellite imagery reviewed by Reuters indicate that construction continues. The U.S. charity says the quarantining is being carried out for the affected workers under the circumstances created by the travel limits.
Taken together, the accounts describe a quarantine operation tied to U.S. travel policy, set against local controversy in Kenya and an ongoing court case involving the facility’s construction.
