May 27 (Reuters) - The U.S. and Kenya are in discussions for the U.S. to open a facility in Kenya to quarantine its citizens if they have been exposed to the Ebola outbreak centred on the Democratic Republic of Congo, a U.S. official told Reuters on Wednesday.
The facility would be staffed by members of the U.S. Public Health Service, a uniformed branch of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Kenya's government has not yet approved the plan and has sought increased foreign assistance in exchange, the U.S. official said. It is unclear where the facility might be located.
Korir Sing'oei, a top official at Kenya's foreign ministry, said he was not fully apprised of the situation and was not aware of the request for additional assistance.
The White House and HHS did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Wall Street Journal first reported on Tuesday that the Trump administration was expected to deploy U.S. public health officers to Kenya to staff a potential quarantine facility there.
The move comes as health authorities race to contain a fast-growing outbreak of a rare Ebola strain in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.
Ebola is a severe and often fatal disease transmitted through direct contact with infected bodily fluids.
The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak of the rare Bundibugyo strain, the third-largest such outbreak on record, a public health emergency of international concern.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention asked staff to volunteer for urgent deployment to support Ebola screening at the country's entry points, according to an email seen by Reuters.
To date, no cases of Ebola disease have been confirmed in the U.S. and the risk to the general public remains low, CDC said.
In Congo, there have been 906 suspected cases, including 105 confirmed, with more than 220 suspected deaths and 10 confirmed fatalities, CDC's latest data showed. Uganda has reported seven confirmed cases and one death, with most infections linked to the initial cases.
(Reporting by Siddhi Mahatole in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Vincent Mumo Nzilani in Nairobi; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar, Toby Chopra and Aidan Lewis)
