Kenya confirms its first Ebola case after a traveller from Congo dies in Nairobi

Kenya has confirmed its first-ever case of Ebola, a Kenyan citizen who had been living in the Democratic Republic of Congo for seven years and who died Monday night at a Nairobi hospital, Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale told reporters on Tuesday. Samples tested positive for Bundibugyo virus disease at both the National Virology Reference Laboratory and a Kenya Medical Research Institute lab, NTV Kenya reported. According to The Washington Post, Kenya is the fourth country to confirm a case linked to the outbreak that began in Congo in May.

Duale said the man fell ill about a month ago and was treated in several hospitals in Congo before travelling by road to Kampala, Uganda. From there he flew to Nairobi on Jambo Jet flight 8523, landing at 1:10 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 3, and passed through normal port health screening, according to NTV. A relative and a friend drove him from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to Nairobi Hospital, where he was isolated with fever, chills, intense fatigue, muscle pain, a sore throat and bleeding under the skin at injection sites. A senior health ministry official told the BBC the man may have cleared airport screening because medication he was taking masked his symptoms.

Officials have listed 28 contacts, including family members and the health workers who treated him, and are tracing 23 other passengers and four crew members from the same flight, with quarantine arrangements under way for those at risk. Duale said only one test had come back positive so far, that of the man who died. The patient died at about 11:30 p.m. on Monday and was buried Tuesday under safe-burial protocols, with the Red Cross overseeing the burial, the BBC reported. “I wish to reassure the public not to panic, as all systems are in place to mitigate the spread of the disease,” Duale said.

Kenya says it has been on high alert since the outbreak was declared. As of Tuesday, the ministry had screened 652,584 travellers, tested 267 samples at five laboratories, including mobile labs at the Busia and Lwakhakha border crossings, and trained about 4,971 health workers, NTV reported. Checks at airports and border posts are now being stepped up further. The case also lands on a sensitive issue: The Guardian noted that Kenyans reacted furiously to government plans earlier this year to let the United States set up an Ebola facility at the Laikipia air base.

The outbreak in Congo is the country’s largest on record. The BBC said the World Health Organization has recorded 4,114 deaths among 8,544 cases, while The Guardian, citing figures as of Oct. 2, put the toll at 4,082 deaths out of 8,463 confirmed cases. It is Congo’s 17th Ebola outbreak and has spread from Ituri province to seven provinces in the north and east. Neighbouring Uganda recorded 20 cases and two deaths before being declared free of the disease in August. There is no approved vaccine or specific treatment for the Bundibugyo strain, though the BBC reported that four vaccines are in development and that human trials of one began in July.

Aid groups say the epidemic is far from contained. Médecins Sans Frontières said on Monday that North Kivu province now accounts for nearly 40 per cent of newly confirmed cases, up from 24 per cent at the end of August. “It is like fighting a megafire,” said Stéphanie Hoffmann, who co-ordinates MSF’s Ebola treatment centre in Butembo. The charity said that as of Sept. 28, 34 per cent of confirmed patients were still being treated in non-specialised facilities because of a shortage of beds, and that more than 60 per cent of Ebola-related deaths continue to occur in the community.

For Canadians, the Government of Canada’s travel health notice advises avoiding non-essential travel to Congo. According to the notice, last updated Sept. 28, temporary border measures under the Quarantine Act apply to travellers who have been in Congo, Uganda or South Sudan in the previous 21 days and are in place until Nov. 27. Foreign nationals who have been in Congo in that period are barred from entering Canada or boarding flights here, while eligible travellers from Uganda or South Sudan must quarantine for 21 days unless exempt. The notice says the risk to most travellers is low if proper precautions are followed and that Ebola is not spread through the air.

This article is for general information and is not medical advice. Talk to a health-care professional about your own situation.

Sources: NTV Kenya; BBC News; The Guardian; The Washington Post; Médecins Sans Frontières project update (Oct. 5, 2026); Government of Canada travel health notice: Ebola disease in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.