NAIROBI, Nov 11 — Kenya discharged its last Ebola patient on Wednesday, officially beginning the 42-day countdown toward being declared Ebola-free, Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale announced, according to the Associated Press and Reuters.

Source: Associated Press

Speaking at a media briefing at Afya House in Nairobi, Duale said the last person who contracted Ebola virus disease in Kenya had been discharged healthy and free of the virus, and that the last 11 contacts in quarantine had returned home after completing their monitoring in good health.

The discharge completes the path Duale set out on October 26, when he said Kenya could be declared Ebola-free if no new cases emerged. Read the earlier report

9confirmed Ebola cases recorded in Kenya since early October
7patients who recovered; the first patient and his mother died
135contacts traced and monitored by the health ministry
42 dayscountdown from Thursday, November 12; declaration possible around December 23

Kenya confirmed its first imported case of Bundibugyo virus disease on October 6, 2026, involving a traveller who had returned from the Democratic Republic of the Congo through Uganda. The man transmitted the virus to four family members and four healthcare workers, the health ministry said. The first patient and his mother died, while the other seven patients have fully recovered.

Five patients were discharged on November 3 and a sixth on November 6, before the final patient was cleared on Wednesday. No new infections have been recorded since October 19, and the ministry said there was no evidence of community transmission.

How the countdown works

Under World Health Organization guidance, a country can declare an Ebola outbreak over once 42 days — twice the maximum incubation period of the virus — have passed since the last confirmed patient tested negative. Day one of Kenya's countdown is Thursday, November 12, and if no new case is reported, Kenya could be declared free of Ebola on or around December 23, Duale said.

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention commended Kenya's response, with Director-General Dr Jean Kaseya hailing the country's progress after the discharge of the last patient. Duale stressed that the countdown is not the end of the response, and said Kenya will now require citizens arriving from the Democratic Republic of Congo to undergo a 21-day quarantine.

The wider regional outbreak remains severe: in Congo, the epicentre, 11,042 people have been infected and 5,387 have died since the outbreak began in May, according to figures cited by the Associated Press. WHO officials cautioned that the risk of cross-border transmission remains while Ebola is still active in Congo.

One cluster, contained

Kenya's outbreak was contained to a single cluster from one imported case — nine infections, all traced — in sharp contrast to Congo, where the same Bundibugyo strain has become one of the worst Ebola outbreaks on record.