US aid workers move into controversial new Ebola quarantine centre in Kenya

Seven American aid workers have been moved into a controversial new Ebola quarantine centre in Kenya, despite a judge ordering a halt after widespread public opposition. The head of a United States charity told Reuters its workers were undergoing three weeks’ isolation at the high-security field hospital set up in a Kenyan air base. The US State Department confirmed that a group of asymptomatic Americans who had been working on the international response to Congo’s latest Ebola outbreak had “voluntarily moved to the Kenya facility for precautionary monitoring and isolation”. Soon after the outbreak was declared in mid-May in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), America announced it would build a quarantine centre for returning US aid workers to isolate in Kenya, before they were allowed back into the US. Donald Trump vowed his administration “cannot and will not allow” any cases of Ebola to enter the United States. The scheme triggered outcry in Kenya, with opponents claiming Nairobi was trading sovereignty for US aid, and putting the population at risk from the deadly haemorrhagic fever. A local court suspended work on the project pending a legal challenge and later found the health minister in contempt when preparations proceeded. However, work on the facility has reportedly continued.