Ten people linked to Kenya’s first-ever Ebola case have been quarantined after authorities traced their contact with a patient who died in Nairobi.
The patient, who had been ill for about a month, travelled from the Democratic Republic of Congo, stopping in Kisangani, Beni, and Uganda before arriving in Nairobi, where he was admitted to hospital and later died.
Kenyan health officials say they are now tracing 57 other contacts of the patient and keeping the ten quarantined in isolation to prevent any spread.
The Africa Centre for Disease Control stresses that the patient’s journey exposed gaps in border screening, as temperature checks and symptom checks were ineffective when travellers used medication to mask fever.
President William Ruto announced that Kenya has intensified surveillance at airports and border crossings, adding that more than 650,000 travellers have been screened and 267 samples tested.
Health Minister Aden Duale said the country is strengthening response teams and considering converting a planned Ebola treatment facility into a regional infectious‑disease hospital, after a US plan to use a military base was halted by courts.
Kenya’s experience follows an outbreak in the DRC that began in May, prompting regional collaboration to reinforce containment measures, the Africa CDC noted, urging a united approach to stop the spread.
