Kenya confirms second Ebola case in quarantined relative

Kenya’s Health Ministry confirmed its second Ebola case on Oct. 14, 2026, a 39-year-old man who tested positive while in quarantine and is a close relative of the country’s first patient, The Associated Press reported .

Updated Oct. 15, 2026. The ministry said the two cases are linked and there is “no evidence of spread in the community.” About 128 contacts of the first patient have been identified and 108 of them are in quarantine, the AP reported, which means the new case was found among people already being watched.

The man developed symptoms on Tuesday, Oct. 13, while in quarantine, the AP said. Al Jazeera reported that his symptoms are fever, fatigue and joint pain, and that he is at a designated treatment centre. The ministry said early detection “improves his chances of recovery” and that it would share updates on his condition.

The first case was a 40-year-old Kenyan man who had been living in Congo. He was treated at two health facilities there, travelled through three Ebola-affected provinces and reached neighbouring Uganda on Oct. 1, the AP reported. He then flew to Kenya, where a relative picked him up at the airport and drove him to hospital. He tested positive on Oct. 5 and died that day.

Five of the first patient’s contacts are outside Kenya, and authorities in those countries have been notified, according to the AP. Kenya has tightened screening at border crossings and airports and urged the public to report suspected infections through an emergency hotline.

How the first patient crossed three countries without being detected remains disputed. Al Jazeera reported that Uganda has kept its border with Congo closed since May, so it is unclear how the route worked. Alan Kasujja, head of Uganda’s media centre, wrote on X: “Leave Uganda out of this conversation. We don’t have Ebola here,” Al Jazeera reported.

Kenya’s Director-General for Health, Patrick Amoth, said a meeting is planned with officials from Congo and Uganda and with Africa CDC, the African Union’s public health agency, to investigate how the patient passed through undetected, Al Jazeera reported.

The contact figures have grown quickly. Health Minister Aden Duale said on Oct. 7 that at least 57 contacts had been traced and 10 were quarantined, according to Al Jazeera. Our earlier report cited 28 contacts, a count from the first days of tracing. The AP’s figures of 128 and 108 are the latest published.

Kenya is the fourth country to record a case linked to the outbreak in Congo, after Congo, Uganda and France, Al Jazeera reported. Congo has reported more than 9,000 cases, making it the second-largest Ebola epidemic on record, and deaths have reached 4,381 . Uganda, which had 20 cases and two deaths, was declared Ebola-free in August.

For Canadians, the main effect is at the border and in travel planning. Canada’s Ebola measures, which bar foreign nationals who last resided in Congo, Uganda or South Sudan and require 21-day quarantine for returning citizens and permanent residents who were in those countries, stay in place until Nov. 27 . Kenya is not on that list, and Ottawa had announced no change after the first Kenyan case. This report found no change announced after the second.

Canadians with travel plans to Kenya can check current advice at travel.gc.ca . Neither the AP nor Al Jazeera reported any Canadian connection to the cases.

The key test is the quarantine period. Contacts must be monitored for 21 days, so the first patient’s contacts are watched into late October. Any further positive result among the 108 in quarantine would show whether the virus is spreading beyond one family. The ministry said it would publish updates.

This is a developing story. The ministry’s own statement was not available to this newsroom, and the figures above are as reported by the AP and Al Jazeera.

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Via The Associated Press and Al Jazeera.

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