Kenya’s Health Minister Aden Duale has halted the construction of a controversial US-funded Ebola quarantine facility in the country a day after he was found in contempt of court for ignoring a judge’s ruling.

Appearing in court on Tuesday, Duale apologised and said he had “directed the immediate and complete cessation” of building work at a military base in the town of Nanyuki.

Last month, the High Court ruled the construction of the 50-bed isolation centre should stop until a case brought by a rights group could be heard.

But on Monday, a judge ruled that Duale had ignored the order and allowed the project to continue.

The quarantine facility is intended for US citizens who are suspected to have contracted Ebola in the current outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“I sincerely regret any action or omission, misunderstanding or misinterpretation that may have resulted in non-compliance of the order of this court or created the perception thereof,” Duale added.

High Court Judge Patricia Nyaundi accepted Duale’s apology saying the minister was “discharged with a stern warning”.

BBC Verify analysis of satellite imagery of the site from Planet Labs taken on 20 June shows more tents had been put up there since 8 June and more surface covered with what looks like tarmac or crushed stone.

A dirt road around the site appears to have been paved. More land has been cleared of vegetation along the western and southern edges of the site where at least eight white objects which could be small tents or vehicles can be seen.

The plan to construct the quarantines centre has sparked a series of angry protests in Nanyuki, which is about 140km (87 miles) north of the capital, Nairobi, during which three people have died as police attempted to disperse the demonstrators.

Among those killed was 17-year-old schoolboy Sylvester Muigai Ndung’u who nurtured ambitions of becoming a priest – witnesses say he was shot in the head, but police told the BBC they were awaiting post-mortem results to determine the cause of the boy’s death.

In its court petition in May to stop the construction, rights group the Katiba Institute warned that the arrangement posed “grave and imminent risks” to public health.

But in court, Duale dismissed such fears saying any decision he made as the minister of health was “based on science, technical advice and strategic interventions”.

“The fear that the… facility could serve as a vehicle for Ebola importation into surrounding communities is scientifically unfounded.

“The facility is located at a military airbase placing it at a significant geographical distance from populated areas with very strict access protocols,” the minister added.

The health ministry had earlier insisted it had not flouted last month’s court order to stop the joint US-Kenyan building works, because any ongoing construction was being done solely by the Kenyan government in the national interest to protect Kenyans against Ebola.

But on Monday the judge said the government could not “avoid compliance by recasting or re-characterising the ongoing construction”, adding that a court order “is not an invitation to ingenuity – it is a command to be obeyed”.

The judge added that Duale knew and understood that all construction at the Nanyuki site had to stop – yet he allowed it to continue.

In recent weeks Kenya’s President William Ruto has defended the plan for the US-funded Ebola quarantine site, saying he had received a request from the US to establish the centre and a refusal would be “inhuman”.

He also called on Kenyans not to politicise a matter “so serious” as Ebola, asking politicians to avoid “reckless” talk about it.