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{"text":[[{"start":10,"text":"A Kenyan court has suspended the opening of a quarantine and treatment facility for Americans potentially exposed to a variant of the deadly Ebola virus, after activists and a doctors’ group protested about the use of their country as a “containment colony” and the risk of infection for Kenyans. "}],[{"start":27.65,"text":"US officials had earlier said that the 50-bed facility would be operational from Friday at the Laikipia Air Base in central Kenya and that it would be staffed exclusively by American healthcare workers who left for Kenya on Wednesday. "}],[{"start":41.95,"text":"The facility is planned to treat Americans exposed to the Bundibugyo Ebola-causing virus that has been spreading in the nearby Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, which shares a border with Kenya. Americans could then be evacuated onwards to other facilities in Europe on a case-by-case basis, a US official said. "}],[{"start":null,"text":"
"}],[{"start":null,"text":"Red Cross volunteers disinfect an area after a death due to Ebola in the DR Congo
"}],[{"start":60.35,"text":"The outbreak, which began in a remote corner of northeastern DR Congo, has been spreading quickly. There have been over 1,000 suspected cases reported by both DR Congo and Uganda, along with some 230 suspected deaths. "}],[{"start":74.25,"text":"The Kenyan High Court barred anyone from being transferred to the facility or elsewhere in Kenya late on Thursday. It followed an urgent challenge lodged by the Katiba Institute, a constitutional rights organisation, which claimed that the project posed serious health risks. "}],[{"start":91.25,"text":"“These orders immediately halt the proposed establishment of any US-based Ebola quarantine or isolation, or treatment facility within Kenyan borders,” wrote Nora Mbagathi, the executive director of the Katiba Institute on Friday. "}],[{"start":105.15,"text":"The Kenyan High Court has scheduled a further hearing on the case for next week. "}],[{"start":109.7,"text":"It is a setback for Washington which has opted not to follow precedent from previous Ebola outbreaks and return Americans to US soil for treatment. "}],[{"start":118.3,"text":"“We cannot and will not allow any cases of Ebola to enter the United States,” said American secretary of state Marco Rubio on Thursday. A US official said that aircraft had been contracted and were on standby to move Americans from affected areas to Kenya. "}],[{"start":133.45,"text":"US officials said that Britain, which has an important military base nearby, had been in discussions about securing joint access to the facility. "}],[{"start":141.79999999999998,"text":"But Kenyan politicians and medical unions also criticised the project, including its planned staffing exclusively by American healthcare workers. "}],[{"start":151.14999999999998,"text":"Davji Bhimji Attelah, who chairs the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union, threatened to undertake industrial action across the country unless details of the negotiations were made public within two days. "}],[{"start":165.29999999999998,"text":"“We are utterly disgusted by the government’s apparent willingness to trade national biosecurity and the lives of its citizens for foreign aid. We will not sit back and watch Kenya be treated as a containment colony for a lethal pathogen that we did not generate,” he said."}],[{"start":181.14999999999998,"text":"“We will not tolerate an apartheid healthcare model on Kenyan soil,” Attelah added. “If it is too dangerous for America, it is too dangerous for Kenya.”"}],[{"start":190.74999999999997,"text":"Ebola disease, a haemorrhagic fever, has a high fatality rate but is much less transmissible than Covid-19. The viruses are generally passed between people when broken skin or mucous membranes allow direct contact with infected body fluids or objects contaminated with them."}],[{"start":209.14999999999998,"text":"Washington says that establishing facilities closer to the epicentre of the outbreak will allow affected Americans to receive treatment more quickly. "}],[{"start":217.39999999999998,"text":"The US pledged on Thursday it would earmark $13.5mn towards Kenya’s Ebola preparedness. Washington had earlier committed around $112mn more broadly to support the effort against the disease, along with some $50mn to fund the establishment of emergency clinics by the UN. "}],[{"start":236.29999999999998,"text":"There has so far been only one American, a missionary who was evacuated to Germany with his family, known to have contracted the virus in the latest outbreak. "}],[{"start":245.1,"text":"The court ruling comes as a row escalates over travel restrictions imposed by the US and other nations on people who have visited countries in the Ebola outbreak region. "}],[{"start":255.04999999999998,"text":"The WHO has said it does not recommend any ban on international travel and trade. "}],[{"start":260.95,"text":"The US has temporarily banned the entry of non-US citizens, including lawful permanent residents, who have visited DR Congo, Uganda or South Sudan during the previous 21 days. South Sudan has yet to report an Ebola case. "}],[{"start":275.65,"text":"Americans who have visited the three nations since the outbreak began have been ordered to enter the US only through airports in Washington, Atlanta and Houston. "}],[{"start":284.84999999999997,"text":"Evidence from the 2014-16 West African Ebola epidemic that killed more than 11,000 people suggests travel bans can be counter-productive, according to a paper published in The Lancet on Friday. "}],[{"start":298.4,"text":"“Subsequent analyses concluded that these measures had little effect on preventing international spread while disrupting the movement of healthcare workers and essential supplies, damaging local economies and encouraging informal border crossings that were more difficult to monitor,” the paper said. "}],[{"start":321.15,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1780279167_5692.mp3"}