Kenya discharges five Ebola patients as outbreak shows signs of containment

Kenya discharged five recovered Ebola patients on November 3, 2026, leaving only two active hospitalizations as containment efforts show progress following weeks with no new reported infections. The regional outbreak, caused by the rare Bundibugyo strain with no approved vaccine, originated in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in May 2026 and has claimed over 5,300 lives across central and eastern Africa.

Ebola patient recoveries and current status in Kenya

• ▪The Ministry of Health in Kenya stated that the country will not declare the Ebola outbreak over until a 42-day countdown is completed following the recovery of the final patient.
• ▪Kenya discharged five Ebola patients
• ▪Kenya reported a total of nine Ebola infections and two deaths, with no new infections recorded since October 19, 2026.

Release of Ebola contacts from quarantine in Kenya

• ▪A final batch of 52 Ebola patient contacts remaining in quarantine in Kenya is scheduled for release by November 11, 2026, upon completing 21 days since their last exposure.
• ▪Kenya released 46 contacts of the country's first Ebola patient from a 21-day quarantine on November 3, 2026, following 20 contacts who were released on October 26, 2026.

Kenya's first Ebola case and contact tracing

• ▪Kenya recorded its first-ever Ebola case when a man tested positive and died hours later
• ▪Health authorities in Kenya identified 135 contacts linked to the country's first Ebola patient, eight of whom subsequently tested positive for the virus.

Ebola control measures in Kenya

• ▪Kenya sought to limit its Ebola cases to a single infection cluster by tracing and quarantining contacts of patients.
• ▪The entry of Ebola into Kenya through an infected traveler from the Democratic Republic of the Congo raised concerns among health officials regarding lapses in border screening.

Global impact and casualties of the DRC Ebola outbreak

• ▪The Ebola outbreak that began in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in May 2026 has infected over 10,000 people across multiple African countries, with a mortality rate exceeding 50 percent.
• ▪The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the Ebola outbreak originating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has killed 5,376 people, including 5,372 in the DRC.
• ▪The Democratic Republic of the Congo declared its 17th and largest Ebola outbreak in mid-May 2026.
• ▪Ebola spread from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Kenya, giving the epidemic its widest geographic spread of any Ebola outbreak recorded on the African continent.

Ebola cases reported in Uganda, Nigeria, and France

• ▪Uganda recorded 20 Ebola cases, almost all involving travelers from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, before being declared Ebola-free in August 2026.
• ▪Nigeria reported an Ebola case in October 2026 involving a 42-year-old Swiss woman whose husband works at the Swiss embassy in Abuja, following their travel to Uganda.
• ▪France reported a single Ebola case in July 2026 involving a health worker who returned from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Ebola monitoring in Nigeria

• ▪Nigeria has recorded no Ebola deaths following the detection of its first imported case in Abuja in October 2026.
• ▪In Nigeria, health authorities confirmed that two rounds of testing on two suspected Ebola cases in the northeast region returned negative results.

Strain details and vaccine trials for the outbreak

• ▪Clinical trials have recently begun in the Democratic Republic of the Congo using the Ervebo vaccine, which was previously proven effective against the more common Zaire strain of Ebola.
• ▪The current African outbreak is caused by the rare Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus, which has no approved treatments or vaccines and spreads through contact with bodily fluids.