The US State Department has asked Americans to reconsider any travel to Kenya, citing what it called the risk of health, crime, unrest and extremism.
“Reconsider travel to Kenya due to risk of health, crime, kidnapping, terrorism, unrest, and traffic safety. Some areas have increased risk,” the State Department said on Monday, raising the advisory to level 3 that asks Americans to reconsider travel, from an earlier level 2 that urges increased caution.
Some areas, including Eastleigh and Kibera, remain at Level 4, meaning “Do Not Travel.”
An eighth person in Kenya tested positive for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola in the country’s first-ever cluster of cases of the virus, as the second-largest outbreak in history has killed more than 4,300 and sickened more than 9,000 people in the region.
It highlights the diminished role the US has played in the worsening Ebola outbreak by building a controversial quarantine center in Kenya, pulling back health support globally, and banning travelers from certain countries. All of this has also reduced the ability to identify and respond to the outbreak and exacerbated mistrust.
The US created a controversial quarantine center at Kenya’s Laikipia airbase, where Americans returning from the Democratic Republic of the Congo would be required to quarantine.
The center, opposed by locals, has stirred distrust in the Kenyan government, leading to protests and a Kenyan court ordering a halt to the center.
Kenya has been issuing guidelines for general safety to Kenyans over the disease.
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