Kenya on Thursday began a 42-day countdown to the end of its Ebola outbreak, a day after its last patient left treatment and 11 people were released from quarantine, according to UN News.
Authorities will monitor the situation for 42 days before Kenya can formally be declared free of Ebola. The outbreak involves the Bundibugyo species of the virus. Aden Duale, Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Health, said Wednesday in Nairobi that the country will be declared free of Ebola on Dec. 23, 2026, if no new case is recorded. He said 42 days is twice the longest incubation period of the virus, which is the time between infection and the first signs of illness.
Kenya confirmed its first case on Oct. 6. The patient was a Kenyan man who had traveled home from the Democratic Republic of the Congo through Uganda and died at a Nairobi hospital. The case was tied to the outbreak still under way in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Contact tracing found all 135 people who had been in close contact with the man, in Kenya and abroad. Those at risk stayed in quarantine, and health workers monitored them every day. Eight more people later tested positive. They were four relatives of the first patient and four health workers who treated him prior to any suspicion of Ebola.
Because all of them were already in quarantine, the virus never spread to the community, according to the report. The last case was confirmed on Oct. 19, and no new case has been recorded since. The World Health Organization said seven patients have recovered and two people have died.
The World Health Organization congratulated Kenya on the milestone but urged continued caution. Dr. Abdourahmane Diallo, Director for Programme Management at the organization’s Regional Office for Africa, said authorities should keep up disease surveillance and screen patients in health facilities. He also called for stronger laboratory capacity and better readiness among health workers, so any new cases can be spotted and contained fast.
Duale said the response continues. “The countdown is not the end of our response,” he said. He said rapid response teams will remain ready, each alert will be checked out, and survivors will get continuing care and support.