Health workers wearing full personal protective equipment prepare May 23 to transport the body of an Ebola victim for a safe burial at Sofepadi Hospital in Bunia, Democratic Republic of the Congo. On Monday, hundreds of people in Kenya protested plans for a nearby field hospital to quarantine and treat Americans exposed to Ebola. Kenya has no Ebola cases thus far. Photo by Stringer/EPA
June 1 (UPI) -- Hundreds of residents in central Kenya marched Monday in protest of plans for a U.S.-run field hospital in which Americans exposed to Ebola would be treated and quarantined.
Officers from the U.S. Public Health Service would run the facility at Laikipia Air Base near Nanyuki, Kenya. The hospital was supposed to open last Friday. However, a Kenyan court blocked that opening, with another hearing set for Tuesday, The Washington Post reported.
Kenya has had no cases of Ebola in this outbreak thus far, but there have been about 1,000 cases worldwide, with about 200 suspected deaths, mostly in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Kenya has increased screening and security measures to lessen the risk of the disease spreading to the country.
Nanyuki residents said the hospital facility would endanger the lives of those living nearby.
