Kenya’s Health Ministry confirms second Ebola case

By Al Jazeera Staff, AP and Reuters. Published On 14 Oct 202614 Oct 2026.

Key points

• Uganda documented 20 cases and two deaths earlier in the year but was declared Ebola-free in August.
• Alan Kasujja, executive director of the Ugandan government's media centre, questioned how Kenya allowed the man to enter via its airport.
• The second patient is at present at a designated treatment centre, where he is receiving the appropriate care, the Health Ministry stated.
• Kenya has intensified its national response to the disease since the country recorded the first case.
• Ebola spreads through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected individuals, whether living or dead.

Kenya has documented a second Ebola infection, concerning a week after confirming its first-ever case of the disease when a citizen who had been living in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) travelled to Kenya and died two days afterwards at a Nairobi hospital.

Notably, the second patient, a 39-year-old man who is a close family member of the first case, fell ill on Tuesday and was already in quarantine when he came down with symptoms of fever, fatigue and joint pain, the Ministry of Health remarked in an official note Wednesday.

Last week's case triggered concern regarding deficiencies in border screening systems in the region after the patient drove from the DRC to Uganda and flew to Nairobi from there.

Given the closure of the border between the DRC and Uganda since May since of the outbreak of the virus, it is not clear how he was able to enter the country.

"Leave Uganda out of this conversation. We don't have Ebola here, " he wrote on X.

When asked how the patient was able to travel through three countries undetected, Kenya's Director-General for Health Patrick Amoth remarked last week that a gathering was scheduled with authorities from the DRC and Uganda and the Africa CDC to investigate.

Kenya has intensified its national response to the disease since the country recorded the first case. At the time, Kenya traced everyone who came in contact with the patient and documented at least 57 residents, with 10 immediately quarantined, Health Minister Aden Duale informed journalists on October 7.

Kenya is the fourth country to record a case linked to the Ebola epidemic in the DRC, the second-largest on record globally with more than 9, 000 cases and more than 4, 000 deaths.

Uganda documented 20 cases and two deaths earlier in the year but was declared Ebola-free in August. A doctor who returned to France in June from the DRC tested positive, but there was no further spread of the virus.

Ebola spreads through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected individuals, whether living or dead. The disease can cause fever, vomiting, diarrhoea and, in severe cases, internal and external bleeding.

For context, the second patient is at present at a designated treatment centre, where he is receiving the appropriate care, the Health Ministry stated. It will continue to share information on his progress, the ministry continued.

In short, kenya's Health Ministry confirms second Ebola case is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.