By Hassan Wekesa - Editor
Kenya, 18 October 2026 - Kenya's Principal Secretary in the State Department for Public Health and Professional Standards Mary Muthoni has urged Kenyans to remain vigilant to curb the spread of Ebola Virus Disease, as the country battles an outbreak that has so far left seven people confirmed infected, including the deceased first case.
In a short educational video clip published on the Ministry of Health’s X account, Muthoni began by explaining the various ways the virus is transmitted.
The first, she said, is direct contact with the body fluids of an infected person. She elaborated that direct contact with body fluids of an infected person pose a direct threat. They include blood, saliva, vomit, urine, fecal waste , breast milk, semen, vaginal fluids, and even sweat sometimes.
The virus can also spread through surfaces and materials used by an infected person.
“It can also be transmitted through contact with surfaces and materials used by an infected person, for instance clothes, bedding, door handles, utensils, razor blades and needles. That can be part of transmission,” Muthoni said.
The third route is contact with the body of a person who has died of Ebola. She noted that in many cultures, families hold the body of a loved one.
“In our cultures, people hold the corpses and they want to lay their loved ones down. If that person has died of Ebola, it would be very important that you simply don’t touch that body,” she said.
The fourth is handling infected wild animals and their products, whether dead or alive.
“If an animal is infected by Ebola Virus, whether it is dead or alive, it would be very important that you do not touch,” the PS said.
Kenya’s Ebola outbreak grew on Saturday, with the Ministry of Health confirming four more infections of the Bundibugyo strain, three of them among health workers. The new cases bring the national total to seven, counting the first patient, who died.
Health Director General Dr Patrick Amoth said in a statement that the latest infections were picked up at two quarantine sites. They are a close male relative of the dead index patient and three health workers who treated him in hospital.
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The relative had been in quarantine since 6 October 2026. The health workers, two men and a woman aged 29, 35 and 32, cared for the index patient on 3 and 4 October 2026 and were placed in quarantine on 9 October 2026.
Each of the four showed fever first. They were isolated straight away and samples were taken, with both the National Virology Reference Laboratory and the KEMRI laboratory confirming the result. Dr Amoth said all four are now being treated by trained health workers, with the three health workers at a designated treatment facility.
According to the Director General, because the four were already under quarantine, they were detected early. This lowers the risk of the virus spreading to their families and the wider public, and it improves their chances of survival.
Dr Amoth also gave an update on two earlier patients. The second, confirmed on Wednesday, and the third, a 65-year-old relative of the first patient who tested positive on Friday, are both stable and responding well to treatment.
The Ministry, led by Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale, assured Kenyans that the risk to the public remains low, saying there is no evidence of the disease spreading within communities.
It said 128 of the 130 listed contacts, or 98.5 per cent, have been traced and quarantined, well above the 85 per cent global benchmark needed to stop transmission.
“Intensive efforts are ongoing to trace and quarantine the two (2) remaining contacts,” Dr Amoth said.
Health officials have urged Kenyans to report any case they suspect in time. In case they experience any Ebola symptoms, they have been urged to seek medical attention.
“If you or anyone you know has fever, unusual tiredness, muscle or joint pains, sore throat, vomiting, diarrhoea or unexplained bleeding, report it at once at the nearest health facility,” Dr Amoth urged.