A Kenyan high court temporarily blocked the government from approving a deal with the U.S. to establish an Ebola quarantine facility in the East African nation after a human rights group said the plan posed “grave health risks” to the public.

The planned Ebola complex “is being undertaken in a manner that is not transparent and is devoid of constitutional accountability,” oversight or full disclosure of its implications for health or security, according to court papers filed by the Katiba Institute, a human rights group that brought the case.

The court order comes days after media reports that the Trump administration was considering sending Americans exposed to the virus to a quarantine facility in Kenya. Separately, a Kenyan court last year suspended a health cooperation agreement with the U.S. over privacy concerns.

In Friday’s order, Kenyan authorities were also prevented from admitting, receiving, transferring or facilitating the entry of people exposed to or infected with Ebola under the arrangement with the U.S., Judge Patricia Nyaundi said.

Parties will make oral arguments before the judge in the case on June 2, according to the order.

More than 220 people have died in the Democratic Republic of Congo since the outbreak of the disease, prompting fears of wider international spread. Uganda closed its border to the country earlier this week to prevent contagion.

The U.S. proposal was criticized by health experts and analysts.

“The U.S. already has world-class biocontainment units and highly trained teams that taxpayers have spent billions to build and sustain,” Krutika Kuppalli, an associate professor at the Peter O’Donnell Jr. School of Public Health at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas who has worked with Ebola patients in Sierra Leone, said in a post on X.

The U.S. intends to commit $13.5 million toward Kenya’s Ebola preparedness efforts, the State Department said Thursday after Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Kenyan President William Ruto. It also intends to commit $112 million in regional bilateral assistance, it added.

A total of 17 isolation centers have been identified across the country, according to Ruto.

The U.S.’ “highest priority remains protecting the health and security of the American people by working to prevent the Ebola outbreak from reaching our shores,” the State Department said in a statement.

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—With assistance from Alister Bull and Jason Gale.

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