How Kenya prepared for the Ebola threat

A Kenyan man who had lived in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for seven years travelled to Nairobi after falling ill, becoming Kenya’s first confirmed case of Ebola.

The man travelled by road from the DRC to Entebbe before boarding Jambojet flight 8523 to Nairobi on Saturday, October 3, Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale said at a press conference in Nairobi.

He arrived at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) at 1.10 pm, where he underwent routine public health screening at the port health and immigration desks before leaving the airport.

A relative and a friend then took him to Nairobi Hospital, where he was isolated in a separate room in the Accident and Emergency unit before being transferred to the East Wing isolation facility.

The patient had been ill for about a month and had received treatment at several hospitals in the DRC, the Ministry of Health said.

At Nairobi Hospital, he presented with fever, chills, intense fatigue and weakness, muscle pain, painful swallowing, a sore throat and bleeding under the skin at injection sites. His symptoms and travel history led doctors to suspect a viral haemorrhagic fever. Samples were collected and tested positive for Bundibugyo Ebola virus disease at both the National Virology Reference Laboratory and the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) laboratory.

The patient received supportive treatment but died Monday night.

The Ministry said arrangements were underway for his safe and dignified burial under Ebola protocols. The confirmation triggered contact tracing. Health authorities identified 28 contacts, including family members and health workers who attended to the patient.

Authorities are now tracing 23 passengers and four crew members who travelled on the same flight.

Health Director-General Patrick Amoth said identified contacts would be quarantined at the National Police Service Hospital, while others would be isolated at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) and Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH).

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has been notified under the International Health Regulations.

The US connection

Before today, there had been concerns that Kenya was inviting the disease to its doorstep.

In May 2026, the government approved a plan for a US-backed Ebola quarantine facility at Laikipia Air Base in Nanyuki for Americans exposed to the virus.

The proposal raised questions about why Kenya should host people exposed to Ebola, whether the country had sufficient capacity to manage them safely and whether the public had been adequately consulted.

Concerns also centred on transparency, national sovereignty and the terms of the Kenya-US arrangement.

Katiba Institute went to the High Court on May 28 seeking to stop the establishment and operation of Ebola quarantine and treatment facilities in Kenya under arrangements with the US or other foreign governments.

It also asked the government to disclose the agreements and preparedness plans behind the proposal.

The High Court subsequently issued conservatory orders halting the proposed arrangement. The legal dispute continued as questions emerged over construction at the Laikipia site.

On June 22, the High Court found Duale in contempt over continued construction at the proposed facility, even as the controversy spilled beyond the courtroom.

Nanyuki and Laikipia residents and activists protested over the facility, citing concerns about health risks, public participation and sovereignty. Three people were reported killed during protests in June.

The dispute exposed a tension at the centre of Kenya’s Ebola response: the government was preparing for an imported case while some Kenyans were challenging the facilities and international arrangements being presented as part of that preparedness.

Months of preparation

Tuesday’s case comes after months of preparation for the possibility that Ebola could cross into Kenya following outbreaks in the DRC and Uganda in May.

The Ministry activated the National Ebola Incident Management System in May and intensified screening at airports and land border crossings.

By early June, it had designated isolation and treatment facilities, expanded laboratory capacity and strengthened surveillance at points of entry.

Kenya’s position as a regional transport and trade hub made the threat particularly difficult to contain. Thousands of people and large volumes of goods move daily between Kenya, Uganda and the DRC.

The western border became a particular focus.

At Busia, more than 3,000 people cross the border each day, while freight moves along the Northern Corridor linking Mombasa to Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan and the DRC.

In August, Kenya National Public Health Institute (KNPHI) teams, with support from WHO and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), trained health workers and border officials at Busia, Malaba and Lwakhakha to recognise suspected Ebola cases, report contacts and strengthen infection prevention.

By October 6, Kenya had screened 652,584 travellers and tested 267 samples across five laboratories. Only one sample had returned positive, Duale said.

The laboratories include the National Virology Reference Laboratory, KEMRI Nairobi, KEMRI Kisumu and two mobile laboratories deployed at the Busia and Lwakhakha borders.

Kenya had also trained some 4,971 health workers at national and county levels on Ebola prevention and management.

The imported case has now put those systems to their biggest test since the preparedness programme began.

The preparedness effort also involved the United States.

In June this year, Washington announced an additional $20 million, about Sh2.6 billion, to support Ebola preparedness in Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda and South Sudan.

The funding was intended to strengthen surveillance, testing, border screening and infection prevention and control.

In July, the US committed additional funding specifically for Kenya’s preparedness, including disease surveillance, laboratory systems, health worker training, emergency response coordination and screening at points of entry.

But Kenya-US cooperation also became one of the most contentious aspects of the response.

A virus on the move

While the debate played out in Kenya, Ebola continued spreading in the region.

The current DRC outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo strain, has grown to more than 8,300 confirmed cases and more than 4,000 deaths, according to data reported in early October.

It is the largest Ebola outbreak recorded in the DRC.

Uganda also recorded 20 confirmed cases, including imported infections linked to the DRC, before declaring its outbreak over in August.

That regional movement was central to Kenya’s concern.

Kenya now faces the task it spent months preparing for: tracing people who may have been exposed, monitoring them and preventing secondary transmission.

Duale sought to calm the public, saying, “I wish to reassure the public not to panic, as all systems are in place to mitigate the spread of the disease.”

He urged people to maintain hand hygiene, avoid close contact with sick people arriving from countries with active Ebola transmission and seek medical care if they develop symptoms. He also urged health workers to remain vigilant and maintain infection prevention and control measures regardless of the condition being treated.

But the arrival of Kenya’s first confirmed case gives fresh weight to the fears that fuelled opposition to the proposed Laikipia quarantine facility months ago.

Residents and activists had warned that bringing people exposed to Ebola into the country could create a risk Kenya was trying to prevent.

The government, meanwhile, argued that preparedness, quarantine and isolation facilities were necessary precisely because Ebola could cross Kenya’s borders through ordinary travel.

That risk has now materialised, although not through the proposed Laikipia facility.

The test now is whether the surveillance systems, laboratories, isolation facilities, trained health workers and border controls built over the past five months can prevent one imported infection from becoming a wider outbreak.