Suspected Ebola patient put in Equatorial Guinea hotel with deportees from U.S., lawyers say

By — Monika Pronczuk, Associated Press Monika Pronczuk, Associated Press Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/suspected-ebola-patient-put-in-equatorial-guinea-hotel-with-deportees-from-u-s-lawyers-say Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Suspected Ebola patient put in Equatorial Guinea hotel with deportees from U.S., lawyers say World Jul 9, 2026 7:31 PM EDT DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Migrants deported from the U.S. and detained in a hotel in Equatorial Guinea say that authorities there also have used the facility to quarantine at least one suspected Ebola patient, deportees and lawyers representing them said Thursday. READ MORE: Ebola death toll in Congo tops 600. New cases also suspected in previously unaffected provinces The hotel on a tropical island off the country's coast, owned by the country's powerful President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, is being used to house 17 migrants from countries including Angola, Mauritania and Ethiopia under an opaque third-country deportation deal with the Trump administration. Educate your inbox Subscribe to Here’s the Deal, our politics newsletter for analysis you won’t find anywhere else. According to a statement from a coalition of international lawyers and interviews with two of the deportees, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, a man suspected of having Ebola was brought to the hotel last week by medical personnel in hazmat suits, and placed on a floor below the detainees. The central African nation of Congo is currently battling a rare Ebola virus that has killed over 600 in an outbreak first announced in May. Cases have been confirmed in neighboring Uganda, but so far no cases — or even suspected cases — have been reported in Equatorial Guinea, which shares no border with Congo and is roughly 1885 miles (1,425 km) away. However, two deportees told The Associated Press that they were told by a doctor in English that the man was a suspected Ebola patient and that they should be careful, but that they were provided no further details. The lawyers group said in a statement that they had received "disturbing reports from multiple detained individuals that a person with a suspected case of Ebola was recently brought under quarantine into the same hotel complex where they are being held." One of the deportees said that a woman also was brought to the quarantine floor on Sunday and that medical staff had identified her as a suspected Ebola patient as well. The AP saw videos showing medical personnel in full protective equipment appearing to transport patients to the hotel, which also served as an isolation center during the Covid-19 pandemic. "Things are getting worse every day," one of the detainees said in an interview. "It's very confusing, no one is coming to talk to us. No one is informing us of anything. The hygiene is unimaginable." Apart from those present at the moment, the detainees were provided with