Madar (Nairobi) - Kenya's Ministry of Health on Saturday, October 17, 2026, confirmed four new Ebola cases, bringing the country's total to seven, including the first patient, who died, AFP reported.
The new cases are a close relative of the first patient, in quarantine since October 6, and three health workers who treated him: two men aged 29 and 35 and a 32-year-old woman, quarantined since October 9. All four developed fever, were isolated and then tested positive, the ministry said.
The ministry said "the risk to the general public remains low" and that there was "no evidence of community transmission." Of 130 contacts identified, 128 have been traced and placed in quarantine.
Kenya had reported no cases until October 6, when a 40-year-old Kenyan businessman who had been living in the Democratic Republic of Congo died after travelling overland to Kampala and flying into Nairobi on October 3. On Friday, authorities announced that a 65-year-old female relative had tested positive, two days after a 39-year-old male relative, according to the same source.
The outbreak in DR Congo, declared in May, has caused 9,066 cases and 4,381 deaths according to Congolese health authorities. It is driven by the Bundibugyo strain, for which there is still no vaccine or specific treatment. Uganda, which recorded 20 infections and two deaths, was declared Ebola-free in August.
