NAIROBI: Kenya has provided written approval for the US to open a quarantine facility in the East African nation for Americans exposed to the Ebola outbreak centered in the Democratic Republic of Congo, said two US officials briefed on the response.
The authorization grants the US access to land at an air force base in Laikipia, central Kenya, one of the officials said.
Officials at Kenya’s foreign and health ministries did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
FASTFACT
The US State Department said it was making a new $80 million commitment in response to the Ebola outbreak in the DRC and Uganda.
Kenya had been pushing for the facility to be open to all nationalities, not just US citizens.
It was not immediately clear if that would be the case.
The facility would be staffed by members of the US Public Health Service, a uniformed branch of the Department of Health and Human Services.
The US State Department said on Thursday it was making a new $80 million commitment in response to the Ebola outbreak in the DRC and Uganda.
In a statement on Wednesday, Kenya’s Health Ministry said it was in discussions with the US and other global partners about cooperating on the response to Ebola, but did not mention any plan for a quarantine facility.
One American doctor infected with Ebola and several other US citizens exposed to the virus have been sent to Germany for treatment and monitoring.
Another American doctor exposed to the virus was sent to Czech Republic.
Health authorities in Congo and neighboring countries are scrambling to contain the latest outbreak of the rare Bundibugyo strain, for which there is no vaccine or treatment.
The response, which hinges on identifying and isolating potential cases to control the spread of the disease, is weeks, if not months, behind the curve, and the WHO has declared a public health emergency of international concern.
WHO said on Thursday it was scaling up testing in Congo in partnership with the country’s national medical research organization.
The head of the World Health Organization was traveling to the Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday.
“Sixteen times, this country has defeated Ebola. The 17th will be no different. But we must act now, together,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on X.
Tedros will travel to Ituri province in Congo’s northeast, where the first Ebola cases were reported, and the virus has been circulating for weeks.
MONUSCO, the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo, said it had shipped just under five tonnes of medical cargo to Ituri on Thursday, the latest in a series of flights to deliver supplies.
Already facing a shortage of supplies, doctors there are also tackling attacks on their facilities caused by the denial of the disease among some in Congo.
There have been 1,077 suspected cases, of which 121 have been confirmed, according to the latest WHO figures, which also showed 246 suspected deaths from Ebola and 17 confirmed fatalities.
Health experts have warned that the real number of cases and deaths is likely to be much higher.
Three humanitarian officials involved in the Ebola response in Congo said that continued flight restrictions in and out of Bunia, the capital of Ituri province, were hampering operations.
One humanitarian official said that despite its promise to grant ad hoc exemptions for aid workers, the Ministry of Transport was not processing them.
The Congolese government did not immediately respond to a request for comment on flight restrictions.
