{Via Kenya Ministry of Health Social Media Page}
MINISTRY OF HEALTH | REPUBLIC OF KENYA | OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR GENERAL FOR HEALTH | PRESS RELEASE
ALL NINE (9) CASES IN ONE KNOWN CLUSTER: PATIENTS IMPROVING AS FIRST CONTACTS SET TO COMPLETE QUARANTINE
Nairobi, Tuesday, October 20, 2026
Kenya's Ebola (Bundibugyo Virus Disease) response continues to hold firm.
The Ministry of Health confirms one further case of the disease, bringing the total to nine (9) confirmed cases, including the first case, who died.
The new case is a known contact of the index case and was already in quarantine when he fell ill.
All nine cases belong to one cluster, and as today there is no evidence of transmission outside this group.
The ninth case, a 24-year-old man is also a close family member of the first case, was confirmed on 19th October.
He was isolated at the first sign of illness, tested and started on treatment immediately upon confirmation of his positive test result.
Our patients are improving and responding well to treatment.
All eight (8) patients are receiving appropriate supportive care from our dedicated clinical teams.
All the patients have improved markedly and are currently stable under strict observation and treatment.
In addition, we have received 500 doses of medicines to support treatment of all confirmed cases.
We are grateful to our partners for the solidarity and collaboration in our response and remain hopeful of good outcomes for every patient under care.
Contact tracing continues to widen. As each new case is confirmed, their contacts are added to the tracing list, and this explains the growing number of contacts.
Today, 134 of 135 contacts (99.3%) have been traced and quarantined, far above the global benchmark of 85%. This progress reflects the dedication of our national and county contact-tracing teams, closer cooperation with families and communities, and the support and solidarity of our development partners.
We sincerely thank all Kenyans for this collaboration, and continue to call for your full cooperation with our response teams.
Counties and hospitals are better equipped. The Ministry has distributed supplies to 12 very high-risk and 16 high-risk counties, including the appropriate personal protective equipment such as gowns, gloves, face shields and boots, sample collection and transport kits, diagnostic kits and thermometers. These commodities enable county rapid response teams to detect, isolate and safely test any suspected cases promptly.
In addition, a dedicated laboratory has been set up at the Kenyatta National Hospital Infectious Disease Unit to handle routine tests for patients under Ebola care, so that the hospital's laboratory is contaminated with Ebola positive samples or overwhelmed and can continue serving all other patients without disruption of testing services
Our safeguards are holding. We continue to assess and monitor the infection prevention and control measures in our quarantine and treatment centers and continuously address any gaps as they arise to ensure the protection of healthcare workers as they continue offering the much-needed response services: there has been no spread of infection within quarantine facilities, and every health worker caring for patients is fully protected.
Kenya remains open, with no restrictions on travel, trade or public gatherings. We ask every Kenyan to keep following the guidance of the Ministry of Health and to cooperate fully with the response. If you or anyone you know has fever, unusual tiredness, muscle or joint pains, sore throat, vomiting, diarrhea or unexplained bleeding, report it at once at the nearest health facility or on the toll-free line 719.
A milestone is now in sight. Contacts who entered quarantine on 6th of October and remain well will complete their 21-day monitoring period and begin returning home from this coming weekend, 25th October, having successfully completed quarantine.
We thank them and their families for their patience, their patriotism and their contribution to protecting not only their families and communities, but also the nation and the wider world. When they return, we appeal to communities to welcome them home with love and open arms: having completed 21 days without symptoms, they pose no risk of infection to anyone.
Together, we are on course to bring this outbreak to a complete end.
Dr. Patrick Amoth, CBS | DIRECTOR GENERAL
Source:
Link: https://www.facebook.com/MinstryofHealthKE
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