Washington, May 28: The US government is preparing to send its citizens who have been exposed to the Ebola virus to a new quarantine center being established in Kenya, rather than bringing them back to the United States for treatment and monitoring.
According to a report by the Washington Post on Wednesday, officials from the Trump administration have instructed the US military to prepare the quarantine facility in central Kenya within a week. American citizens who have come into contact with the virus will be housed there in bio-containment units brought from the US.
The initial plan is to set up a 50-bed unit within a week, which could later be expanded to accommodate up to 250 beds. The report also mentions that members of the US Public Health Service have begun training to work at this facility at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.
Earlier this month, the US sent an American doctor exhibiting Ebola-like symptoms to Germany for treatment, and six other Americans were sent to Germany and the Czech Republic for monitoring.
Additionally, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) imposed a 30-day ban on the entry of foreign nationals into the US who have been in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Uganda, or South Sudan in the past 21 days. This rule was later extended to include green card holders, or permanent residents.
According to a report released by the DRC’s health ministry on Wednesday, the number of suspected Ebola cases in the country has surpassed 1,000, with the infection continuing to spread in the eastern regions. As of Tuesday, the total number of suspected cases has reached 1,077, with 121 confirmed cases and 238 suspected deaths reported since the outbreak was declared on May 15.
The infection has spread across 13 health zones in Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu provinces, with Ituri being the most affected area. This marks the 17th outbreak of Ebola in the DRC, with laboratory tests confirming the presence of the Bundibugyo strain, which is considered a relatively rare type of Ebola.