Ebola in Kenya: CS Duale confirms first reported case of viral disease in Nairobi

Kenya's Ministry of Health has confirmed the country's first imported case of Ebola, the Bundibugyo strain.

Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale has announced on Tuesday.

The patient is a Kenyan citizen who had been living in the Democratic Republic of Congo for the past seven years.

According to Duale, the man fell ill about a month ago and was treated at several hospitals while still in DRC.

He later travelled from DRC to Kampala by road before boarding a flight, Jambojet flight number 8523, which landed in Nairobi on Saturday, October 3, at 1.10pm.

On arrival, the patient underwent routine public health screening at Port Health, JKIA, before clearing immigration.

He was then picked up by a relative and a friend, who drove him directly from the airport to Nairobi Hospital in a Toyota Fielder, registration KDG 699Z.

At the hospital, staff immediately isolated him in a separate room within the Accident and Emergency department.

He was later transferred to the East Wing Isolation Facility, a unit built during the Covid-19 pandemic. The facility is fully equipped with ICU and HDU capacity, alongside more than 145 beds.

In May, the United States government expressed its commitment to supporting countries and organisations fighting the Ebola outbreak in the East African region.

The U.S. Department of State disclosed that it had approved an additional KSh 10.3 billion emergency funding package on Monday, May 25, to partners for response to the Ebola outbreak.

The programme anticipates that established NGOs and logistics firms specialising in pandemic containment, including International Medical Corps, Partners in Health, and several unlisted private-sector subcontractors, will be the primary beneficiaries.

"This will help procure and deliver additional PPE for healthcare workers in high-risk areas; enhance border screenings and surveillance at key points of entry; expand contact tracing to identify and diagnose individuals as early as possible; and procure diagnostic supplies including test kits," the US stated.

The acting president of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS/Tshisekedi) federal executive committee in Butembo and a party spokesperson, Marie-Celestin Karondwa Mwanaweka, died on Sunday, September 27, 2026, after a violent attack in the Vulindi area, north of Butembo, in North Kivu.

Karondwa was attacked after attending a radio show programme where he cautioned residents to take seriously the threat posed by the Ebola virus.