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Kenya has confirmed four new cases of Ebola virus disease, bringing the total number of infections in the country to seven, including one death, as authorities intensify efforts to contain the outbreak.
The Director-General of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), Dr Jean Kaseya, disclosed this through the agency’s official X handle, following confirmation of the new infections on Saturday, October 17, 2026.
The development comes less than two weeks after Kenya confirmed its first Ebola case on October 6, involving a patient who had travelled from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where a major outbreak remains ongoing.
Healthcare workers among new Ebola cases
According to Kaseya, three of the newly infected patients are healthcare workers who attended to the first Ebola patient, while the fourth is a male relative of the deceased.
He said the new cases were detected among individuals already placed under quarantine, highlighting the importance of early detection and contact tracing.
- “All four cases were identified among people already in quarantine. This shows why early detection, contact tracing and swift action are so important,” Kaseya stated.
He commended Kenyan authorities for their vigilance and reaffirmed Africa CDC’s commitment to supporting frontline health workers and strengthening the country’s outbreak response.
In a separate post, Kaseya disclosed that Africa CDC had delivered 400 Ebola detection tests, 500 extraction kits, laboratory consumables and protective coveralls through its Continental Reference Laboratory to strengthen Kenya’s testing capacity and laboratory preparedness.
Kenyan health authorities have also traced and quarantined 128 of the 130 identified contacts as efforts continue to prevent further transmission.
How Kenya’s Ebola outbreak began
Kenya confirmed its first Ebola case on October 6 after a Kenyan citizen who had lived in the DRC for about seven years returned to the country while ill.
The patient reportedly fell ill about a month earlier and received treatment at several hospitals in the DRC before travelling by road to Kampala, Uganda, and subsequently flying to Nairobi on October 3.
- Laboratory tests subsequently confirmed the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, but the patient died on October 5.
- Following his death, Kenyan authorities initially identified 28 direct contacts, including relatives and healthcare workers, while tracing another 23 passengers and four crew members aboard his flight to Nairobi.
The subsequent infections among healthcare workers and a relative of the deceased have confirmed local transmission, highlighting the risks associated with exposure before the initial case was diagnosed.
DRC Ebola deaths reach 4,536
Kenya’s outbreak is linked to the wider Ebola epidemic in the DRC, which had earlier spread to neighbouring Uganda, where authorities recorded 20 cases and two deaths before declaring the country Ebola-free in August 2026.
The outbreak, which began in the DRC in May, has continued to spread, with the country’s National Institute for Biomedical Research reporting 9,415 cases and 4,536 deaths as of October 16, making it the country’s deadliest Ebola epidemic on record.
- Amid the worsening health crisis, Africa CDC has raised concerns over more than $700 million in Ebola response funding that remains unaccounted for in the DRC, citing inadequate financial disclosures by international aid organisations.
- The agency disclosed that international donors had disbursed approximately $962 million to implementing partners involved in the outbreak response.
- However, only about 30% of the organisations provided financial information during a verification exercise, raising concerns about transparency in the management of outbreak response funds.
The funding concerns come as the DRC continues to battle the outbreak, while Kenya intensifies its efforts to contain infections linked to the epidemic.
