Health Minister Aden Duale said a Kenyan man who flew from Kampala to Nairobi died of Ebola. Eight relatives and 21 health workers are in quarantine, and authorities are tracing his flight.
Kenya confirmed its first Ebola case on Tuesday after a Kenyan citizen who had lived in the Democratic Republic of Congo for seven years died in Nairobi. Health Minister Aden Duale said the man had been ill for about a month, travelled by road to Kampala, and flew to Nairobi on Saturday on Jambojet. He died late on Monday.
He passed airport health screening and was later taken by a relative to Nairobi Hospital with fever, chills and bleeding beneath the skin, then placed in isolation, Duale said. Director-general Patrick Amoth said medication may have masked his symptoms at screening. Uganda's health ministry said his temperature was normal at Entebbe.
President William Ruto's office said eight family members and 21 health workers have been quarantined. The patient was buried under protocols meant to limit spread. Authorities are trying to trace 23 passengers and four crew from the flight. Duale had earlier put contacts identified in Kenya at 28.
The Congo outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo strain and declared in mid-May, has more than 8,000 cases and more than 4,000 deaths, Reuters reported. Africa CDC said it was sending a team to Kenya. WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the agency is supporting Kenya and Uganda and advised against travel restrictions.
How the patient crossed from Congo into Uganda is unclear. The border has been closed since May. Ugandan spokesperson Alan Kasujja texted Reuters: leave Uganda out of this conversation, we do not have Ebola here. Africa CDC said the man spent a night in Uganda before the flight.
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- Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus recommended against travel restrictions on countries affected by the outbreak.
- Alan Kasujja said Uganda should be left out of the conversation and does not have Ebola.