Seven American aid workers who had been in the Democratic Republic of Congo helping combat an Ebola outbreak are quarantining at an isolation facility in Kenya after new U.S. travel restrictions took effect, the head of the U.S. charity employing them told Reuters.
The aid workers are the first people to be housed at the facility, which has drawn widespread opposition in Kenya and is the subject of an ongoing court case.
A judge ordered operations at the site suspended pending a final ruling, but U.S. officials and satellite imagery reviewed by Reuters indicate construction and other work at the facility have continued.
Washington's new policy requires U.S. citizens returning from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where there is an Ebola outbreak, to spend three weeks in a third country before entering the United States.
The bio-isolation unit, built by the U.S. government on an air force base in central Kenya for Americans exposed to the virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo or Uganda, has angered many Kenyans, who accuse the United States of offloading the health risks of caring for Ebola patients.
Last month, Kenya's health minister announced an immediate halt to construction of the facility after he was found guilty of contempt of court for failing to comply with a local court order suspending work on the project.
"Samaritan's Purse has seven American Disaster Assistance Response Team staff members there," Franklin Graham, president and CEO of Samaritan's Purse, told Reuters in response to the news agency's questions.
"None of them have any symptoms, but they are being quarantined by the Kenyan government for 21 days," Graham said.
A U.S. State Department official told Reuters that a group of asymptomatic Americans who had served on the front lines of the Ebola response had "voluntarily moved to the Kenya facility for precautionary monitoring and isolation."
"Kenyan authorities have authorized their movement into the facility under the observation of U.S. Public Health Service clinicians," the official said, adding that the decision was made "strictly out of an abundance of caution."
Kenyan Health Ministry officials did not immediately respond to calls or requests for comment. A senior Kenyan Foreign Ministry official said the ministry did not have any information about the matter.
Another source familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the group arrived at the site in central Kenya on Monday and was sleeping on army cots in tents.
The source said some had worked as medics treating Ebola patients at the Christian aid group's treatment centers, while others had served in roles with no direct contact with patients, such as construction.
"There is one potential high-risk exposure," the source said, adding that the group's health was being monitored. Kenyan authorities are not allowing the group to leave the facility or travel elsewhere in the country, the source added.
