Kenya has discharged its last Ebola patient, closing the treatment phase of an outbreak that began in early October and starting a 42-day countdown towards being declared free of the disease. Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale announced the milestone in Nairobi on Wednesday, 11 November 2026.

“He has been discharged healthy and free of the virus,” Duale said at Afya House, as he confirmed that the last 11 contacts under monitoring had also returned home to their families the same day. For the first time since Kenya confirmed its first case 37 days earlier, the country has no patient in treatment and no contact in quarantine.

Seven recoveries and two deaths

Kenya recorded nine confirmed cases of Bundibugyo virus disease, a strain of Ebola. Seven patients recovered and two people died. The first patient, a Kenyan who had travelled home from the Democratic Republic of the Congo through Uganda, died after arriving in Nairobi. His mother was the second fatality.

The remaining eight cases were all contacts of the first patient: four family members and four health workers who had cared for him before Ebola was suspected. Every one of them was already in quarantine when they fell ill, which meant the virus never spread into the wider community.

Health teams traced 135 close contacts in Kenya and abroad, and monitored them daily. The last confirmed case was recorded on 19 October, and no new infection has been reported since. Five patients were discharged on 3 November, described by Duale as the first Kenyans ever to recover from the disease. A sixth went home on 6 November, and the final patient was cleared on Wednesday.

Countdown to 23 December

The 42-day countdown begins on Thursday, 12 November. The period is twice the longest incubation period of the virus. If no new case is recorded in that time, Kenya will be declared free of Ebola on 23 December 2026.

Duale was clear that the discharge is a milestone, not the end of the response. Rapid response teams will stay on alert in every county, every alert will be investigated, and survivors will receive follow-up care and support. The World Health Organization, which congratulated Kenya on the achievement, echoed the warning: vigilance must continue while Ebola remains active in the region.

Kenya will now require citizens arriving from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to undergo a 21-day quarantine. Duale also said Kenya would not host suspected Ebola patients from other countries seeking to satisfy entry requirements imposed by foreign governments.

A wider regional outbreak

The outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the virus was first declared in May, remains severe. Nearly 11,000 confirmed cases and more than 5,000 deaths have been reported there, and the outbreak has spread to Uganda and Nigeria through travellers from the country. Ebola has now been reported in four countries across eastern, central and western Africa, the widest geographic spread of any outbreak on the continent to date.

The WHO advises against travel or trade restrictions on countries affected by Ebola. Duale said Kenya remains open for business, tourism, trade and travel, with no restrictions on movement or public gatherings inside the country. Anyone with fever, weakness, muscle pain, vomiting, diarrhoea or unexplained bleeding, especially after travel to an affected area, should seek care early and call 719 free of charge.

“Fellow Kenyans, we are not yet at the finish line, but we can see it at a distance,” Duale said. “Let us walk these last 42 days together with the same discipline and unity that brought us here until Kenya is declared Ebola-free.”

Sources: WHO Regional Office for Africa and Reuters.