Kenya confirmed its first Ebola case on 6 October: a Kenyan man who had lived in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) and died in a Nairobi hospital. Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale said the man travelled by road to Kampala on 2 October and flew to Nairobi the next day; 28 contacts are under monitoring, and the flight’s passengers and crew are being traced. DR Congo’s outbreak, its deadliest on record, has caused more than 8,000 cases and 4,000 deaths, and Uganda was declared free of the disease only in August. A case in East Africa’s main air hub raises the risk of spread through Uganda and Kenya and of disruption to travel, tourism and cross-border trade.
Sources
- Al Jazeera: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/6/kenya-confirms-first-ebola-case-after-patient-from-dr-congo-dies-in-nairobi
- CIDRAP: https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/ebola/kenya-reports-its-first-ebola-case-man-who-died-after-arriving-dr-congo
- Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/johndrake/2026/10/06/kenyas-first-ebola-patient-flew-to-nairobi-two-days-before-he-died/