WHO Advises Against Travel Restrictions After Kenya Confirms Ebola Case

The World Health Organization (WHO) has advised against restricting travel to, or trade with, countries affected by Ebola, on the same day Kenya announced that a man had died of the disease in Nairobi.

The man was a Kenyan who had lived in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for seven years.

He died on the night of 5 October 2026, according to a Ministry of Health press release dated 6 October 2026 and signed by Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale.

It is the first imported Ebola case Kenya has confirmed, and tests showed he was infected with the Bundibugyo virus, one of the viruses that cause Ebola.

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement published on the social media platform X on 6 October 2026 that the agency advises against "any restriction of travel to, or trade with, the affected countries based on the currently available information.''

Tedros said the agency is supporting the governments of Kenya, the DRC and Uganda with contact tracing, surveillance and screening, so that possible cases are found quickly and the virus does not spread further.

He added that the agency keeps watching travel and trade measures linked to the epidemic and will verify them where necessary, and sent condolences to the man's family.

According to Kenya's Ministry of Health, the man fell ill about a month before the 6 October announcement and was treated at several hospitals in the DRC.

He travelled by road to Kampala, Uganda's capital, and boarded Jambo Jet flight 8523 to Nairobi, landing at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport at 1:10 pm on Saturday 3 October.

The ministry said he went through the normal public health screening at the airport's Port Health and immigration desks.

A relative and a friend then took him by car straight to Nairobi Hospital, where he was placed in a separate room in the accident and emergency department and later moved to the hospital's East Wing Isolation Facility.

The ministry listed his symptoms as fever, chills, deep tiredness and weakness, muscle pain, painful swallowing, a sore throat and bleeding under the skin at injection sites.

His doctor suspected a viral haemorrhagic fever, a group of illnesses that cause fever and bleeding, because of those signs and his travel from the DRC.

A sample tested positive for Bundibugyo Ebola at two laboratories, the National Virology Reference Laboratory and the KEMRI laboratory.

He was given supportive treatment but died.

The ministry said a burial following Ebola safe and dignified burial protocols was planned for 6 October.

Health officials have so far listed 28 contacts of the dead man, including relatives and health workers who treated him.

They are also pursuing 23 passengers and four crew members who were on the same flight, and the ministry said arrangements to quarantine those at risk are under way.

Quarantine means keeping people who may have been exposed away from others until it is clear whether they are infected.

The ministry said Kenya has been on high alert since the Ebola outbreak began in May 2026.

As of 6 October, it said, 652,584 travellers had been screened and 267 samples tested at five laboratories.

The laboratories are the National Virology Reference Laboratory, KEMRI Nairobi, KEMRI Kisumu, and two mobile laboratories at the Busia and Lwakhakha border crossings, in Busia and Bungoma counties.

Only one of those 267 tests, the man's, has come back positive.

The ministry also said 4,971 health workers have been trained in Ebola prevention and management, and that it has told WHO of the case as the International Health Regulations require.

In its release, the ministry asked the public not to panic and said all systems are in place to limit the spread of the disease.

It advised frequent hand washing or the use of alcohol-based hand rub, and avoiding close contact with sick people coming from countries with active Ebola transmission.

It also asked people to seek care at a recognised health facility if unwell and to report anyone known to be unwell to the nearest facility.

Health workers were told to keep the highest infection prevention and control measures whatever condition they are treating.

The ministry said it will keep updating Kenyans, and that official information is available on its platforms .