Kenya has discharged its last Ebola patient and begun the 42-day countdown that could see the country declared free of the disease on 23 December 2026, health officials have announced.

Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale said the final patient was discharged healthy and free of the virus on Wednesday, 11 November. The last 11 people who had been in contact with confirmed cases also returned home the same day after completing their monitoring in good health.

For the first time since Kenya confirmed its first case 37 days earlier, the country has no patient undergoing treatment for Ebola and no contacts in quarantine. Day one of the countdown falls on Thursday, 12 November.

What the 42-day countdown means

The 42-day period is twice the longest known incubation period for Ebola, the time between exposure to the virus and the appearance of symptoms. If no new case is recorded during that period, Kenya will be declared free of Ebola on 23 December 2026.

"If no new case is reported in that period, Kenya will be declared free of Ebola on December 23, 2026," Duale said during a briefing at Afya House in Nairobi, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The milestone does not mean the outbreak is officially over. Health officials stressed that surveillance and preventive measures will continue throughout the countdown, and any new confirmed case would restart the clock.

Seven recoveries and two deaths

Kenya has reported nine Ebola cases since early October. Seven patients have recovered and two people died, according to the Ministry of Health and WHO.

The outbreak began on 6 October 2026, when Kenya confirmed its first case of Bundibugyo virus disease in a Kenyan national who had travelled home from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) through Uganda. The last case was confirmed on 19 October, and no new infection has been recorded since.

On 3 November, five patients were discharged, described by Duale as the first Kenyans ever to recover from the disease. A sixth patient went home on 6 November, and the final discharge on 11 November brought the number of recoveries to seven.

Health workers traced 135 contacts during the response. Patients were treated at Kenyatta National Hospital and The Nairobi Hospital in the capital.

Quarantine rules stay in place

Kenya will now require citizens arriving from the DRC to undergo a 21-day quarantine, Duale said, as part of continued precautions against imported cases.

The WHO congratulated Kenya on the milestone. The organisation said the discharge showed the value of rapid detection, contact tracing and coordinated treatment, and it will continue to support surveillance during the countdown period.

The wider outbreak in the region

Kenya's cases were linked to the much larger outbreak in the DRC, where Ebola disease caused by Bundibugyo virus was declared in May 2026. As of 31 October 2026, the DRC had reported 10,467 confirmed cases and 5,103 deaths across 67 health zones in eight provinces, according to WHO, making it the largest Ebola outbreak ever recorded in the country.

Cases linked to that outbreak have also been reported in Uganda, France and Nigeria, as well as Kenya. WHO is holding a public briefing on the DRC outbreak on Thursday, 12 November.

For Kenya, the next six weeks will decide whether the countdown ends in a formal declaration. Until 23 December, health teams will keep watching for any sign of a new infection.

Sources: WHO Regional Office for Africa and Capital FM.