Kenyan court orders suspension of planned US Ebola quarantine facility

A court in Kenya has suspended plans by the United States to open an Ebola quarantine facility in the country for American citizens exposed to the rare strain of the virus.

US officials had said the unit would be set up in an air force base in central Kenya and become operational on Friday.

But in a petition to the court, Katiba Institute legal advocacy group argued the move could endanger public health.

"The constitution is there for a reason. It is there to safeguard Kenyans and the government is in fact required to be acting in the best interest of the people in Kenya,” said Nora Mbagathi, Executive Director at Katiba Institute.

“The US government does not have those kinds of obligations, those duties towards us here in Kenya," she said.

There has been a public outcry to Washington’s plan to bring in Americans exposed to the highly infectious disease in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, instead of flying them home.

Labourer Cedric Akweyu, said he was not happy with the idea and did not understand why they wanted to bring infected people to Kenya.

"Kenya is not a dumping area for such sick people. It is a dangerous disease, in that if we get just one infected case, it will spread very fast and it will get to the rest of us easily," he said.

Wycliff Otieno, who is a student, questioned why the authorities would allow this to happen.

"It is like the government has been given a lot of money by the US. So, it is like they are selling us,” he said.

The Kenyan High Court judge has barred the government from admitting anyone exposed to or infected by Ebola until Katiba’s challenge is resolved, with the next hearing due on 2 June.

The Congolese government has confirmed more than 1,000 suspected cases, with at least 220 deaths, since it declared the Ebola outbreak on 15 May.

But the virus had been spreading undetected for weeks and the World Health Organization suspects it is much larger than what has been reported.

The virus also has reached neighbouring Uganda, which has confirmed seven cases and one death.