First Ebola contacts set to return home Sunday

The Ministry of Health will begin releasing the first contacts of Kenya’s Ebola outbreak from quarantine on Sunday, October 25, after they complete the mandatory 21-day monitoring period without developing symptoms.

Director General for Health Dr Patrick Amoth said the contacts who remain in good health will be reunited with their families as the country continues to record no new infections.

Amoth, in an update on Thursday, confirmed that 14 samples tested in the past 24 hours from suspected cases reported in different parts of the country had returned negative results.

The number of confirmed Bundibugyo virus disease (BVD) infections remains nine, including the index patient who died on October 5, a day before Kenya officially confirmed the imported case.

The eight patients receiving treatment, comprising four family members and four health workers who attended to the first patient, are stable and responding well to treatment in designated isolation facilities.

“All the cases belong to a single cluster, with no evidence of community spread,” Amoth said.

He added that all 135 contacts associated with the first case had been traced, both within Kenya and internationally, with the relevant foreign health authorities notified in line with international health regulations.

Epidemiological investigations indicate that all eight subsequent patients had close contact with the first case between October 3 and 5, before entering quarantine.

They developed symptoms within Ebola’s known incubation period of two to 21 days.

Amoth said investigations had found no evidence of transmission within quarantine facilities, where infection prevention and control measures had been strengthened.

The ministry will continue monitoring contacts according to their individual exposure dates, with anyone exposed to a subsequently confirmed case beginning a new monitoring period based on that exposure.

Meanwhile, surveillance and testing continue across the country, with 709,093 travellers screened at points of entry since the outbreak response began, including 3,107 in the past 24 hours.

A total of 461 samples have been tested since the outbreak was first reported in May 2026.

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