Mirian Gom 
NAIROBI, Kenya – Kenya has confirmed nine Ebola cases, with eight surviving patients improving under medical care as health authorities intensify contact tracing to prevent further transmission.
The latest case involves a 24-year-old man who is a close relative of the first patient. He developed symptoms while in quarantine and tested positive on 19 October, according to the Ministry of Health.
In a statement published on its official X account on Tuesday, the ministry, through Director-General for Health Patrick Amoth, said all nine cases belonged to a single cluster, with no evidence of transmission beyond the group.
The outbreak began with a 40-year-old man who travelled from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), through Uganda, before arriving in Nairobi on 3 October. He died at a Nairobi hospital on 5 October.
The ministry said the eight surviving patients were stable and responding well to supportive care. Kenya has also received 500 doses of medicine to support the treatment of confirmed cases.
Contact tracing has identified 135 people linked to the outbreak. Authorities have traced and quarantined 134 of them, representing 99.3 per cent of the total, as efforts continue to contain the virus.
To strengthen surveillance, the government has distributed protective equipment, diagnostic kits and sample-collection materials to high-risk counties.
A dedicated laboratory has also been established at Kenyatta National Hospital to support Ebola testing without disrupting other hospital laboratory services.
Despite the outbreak, the government said it had not imposed restrictions on travel, trade or public gatherings.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization reported more than 8,700 confirmed cases and over 4,200 deaths in the DRC as of 6 October, with transmission continuing across dozens of health zones. These figures should be verified against the WHO’s latest published outbreak data before publication.
About the Author
Korede Abdullah 
