Hundreds of people in Kenya are protesting against the establishment of a U.S. quarantine center – Reuters
In the Kenyan town of Nanyuki, hundreds of people took to the streets to protest U.S. plans to set up a quarantine center at a local airbase in Laikipia County for American citizens who may have been exposed to the Ebola virus. The mass demonstration took place a few days after the High Court of Kenya, ruling on a lawsuit regarding public health risks, temporarily ordered the government to suspend the project.
This was reported by the international news agency Reuters.
The local community has expressed serious concerns that locating a potentially dangerous facility near the city poses a direct risk of infection, as military personnel from the base have close contact with the civilian population in their daily lives. One of the protest organizers, Patrick Vahome, stated that residents are demanding the project be permanently shut down by June 9, as even a single case of infection would put the entire town at risk. During the protest, demonstrators whistled, drove around in pickup trucks, and smoke rose from burning objects on the roads near the airbase, where military personnel were on duty and armored vehicles were stationed. Despite the current court order to halt construction, military aircraft were spotted in the area late last week; specifically, Flightradar24 data confirmed the arrival of a U.S. C-130 transport plane in Nanyuki on Friday afternoon.
According to official statements from U.S. officials, the planned facility is designed to have 50 beds and is intended exclusively for U.S. citizens who have been exposed to the virus but are not yet showing symptoms of the disease. The Kenyan government confirmed these plans, and Health Minister Aden Duale explained that the establishment of the center is part of a broader program to strengthen the national emergency response system. Amid escalating tensions and discontent among the local population, law enforcement agencies and Kenyan military units were forced to significantly increase their presence on all roads leading to the airbase.
World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced his intention to urgently visit the city of Bunia in the Congolese province of Ituri. This region has become the epicenter of yet another dangerous Ebola outbreak.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo has recorded its 17th Ebola outbreak, which has already claimed the lives of 80 people. This time, the disease was likely caused by the little-studied Bundibugyo ebolavirus strain, rather than the more common Zaire ebolavirus.
Ethiopia has recorded its first outbreak of the Marburg virus, which is clinically similar to Ebola. The pathogen is capable of spreading rapidly, but there are no vaccines against it.
