NAIROBI — Seven American aid workers were sent to quarantine at a U.S.-run facility in Kenya after exposure to the Ebola virus in Congo, according to the humanitarian organization Samaritan’s Purse.
The seven did not have symptoms but would stay in quarantine for 21 days, Franklin Graham, the head of Samaritan’s Purse, said in a statement.
“They are being housed in large military tents in a fenced-in graveled area, sleeping on military cots, and their food is being provided by the U.S. military,” Graham said. “I was able to speak to them by phone this morning, thank them, and encourage them while they wait to come home.”
The United States has set new travel restrictionsrequiring those who have visited the Democratic Republic of Congo to quarantine outside the U.S. for three weeks. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that the restrictions would also apply to some travelers who recently traveled to Uganda or South Sudan.
Many infectious-disease experts fear the Ebola outbreak in Central Africa could become one of the largest and most difficult epidemics of the virus in decades.
Congo’s Ministry of Public Health, Hygiene and Social Welfare data from Saturday shows 2,181 confirmed cases of Ebola in Congo and 864 deaths.
Congo announced on May 15 it was battling its 17th Ebola outbreak involving a rare strain called Bundibugyo.
The current outbreak has been unusually tough to control since there are no approved vaccine or therapeutics for the Bundibugyo strain.
The Ebola facility located at Laikipia Air Base in Nanyuki is at the center of a legal dispute in Kenya after a Kenyan court ordered a halt to its operations. Information on the existence of the facility led to protests in Kenya that left at least three people dead.
On a post on X on Saturday, the Katiba Institute, a Nairobi-based legal advocacy organization, said that if the reports that Kenya was hosting the seven aid workers were true, that it is “an absolute outrage.“
Since the start of the outbreak, at least two Americans have been infected by the virus and have been transferred to facilities in Europe for treatment.