Kenya records no new Ebola cases as health ministry says end is within reach
All 14 samples tested in the past day were negative, and the first contacts are due to leave quarantine from Sunday.
Based on reporting by Citizen Digital, The Eastleigh Voice and Kenyans.co.ke.
Map of the 2026 Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak in DR Congo, Uganda and Kenya, with data to 6 October 2026. Map: US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention / Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Kenya recorded no new Ebola cases in the 24 hours to Thursday, the Ministry of Health said, with all 14 samples from suspected cases testing negative. The total stays at nine confirmed cases of Bundibugyo virus disease, a type of Ebola.
Director General for Health Dr Patrick Amoth said all nine cases are linked to one cluster and there is no evidence of the virus spreading in the community. The first patient died on 5 October. The other eight, four relatives and four health workers who cared for the first patient, are in isolation and are stable, the ministry said.
All 135 contacts of the first patient have been traced, according to the ministry. Those who complete 21 days of monitoring without symptoms are due to be released from quarantine from Sunday, 25 October. Amoth said no infection had been traced to the quarantine centres.
Since the response began in May, 461 samples have been tested and 709,093 travellers screened at entry points, 3,107 of them in the past day. Travel, trade and public gatherings are not restricted. "The end of this outbreak is within reach, and together we will get there," Amoth said.
In Eldoret, Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital said one person identified through contact tracing is in 21-day quarantine at its facilities. Chief executive Dr Phillip Kirwa said the hospital has no Ebola patient and that being in quarantine does not mean a person is infected. Readers should rely on the Ministry of Health for official updates.
Update, 23 October: on Friday evening the Ministry of Health said a 65-year-old woman, the third confirmed case and a relative of the first patient, had died. Kenya now has two Ebola deaths among nine confirmed cases.
