Kenya Discharges Last Ebola Patient and Starts 42 Day Countdown to Disease Free Status

Kenya discharged its last Ebola patient on Wednesday, November 11, 2026, and started a 42 day countdown to being declared free of the disease. Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale announced the discharge at a ministry briefing in Nairobi. The last 11 people who had been in contact with confirmed cases were also released from quarantine on Wednesday.

The discharge closes the treatment phase of a small outbreak that began in early October. Kenya has reported nine Ebola cases since then. Seven patients recovered and two died. The first patient was a Kenyan man who tested positive after arriving from the Democratic Republic of Congo and later died. No new infections have been recorded since October 19, the health ministry told a press conference.

What the countdown means

The 42 day countdown begins on Thursday, November 12. If no new case is reported during that period, Kenya is expected to be declared Ebola free on or around December 23, 2026. The count covers two full incubation periods of the virus, the standard health officials use before an outbreak can be declared over.

Duale was clear that the work is not finished. "The countdown is not the end of our response," he said. Surveillance continues through the countdown period, and health teams will keep monitoring for any new case.

New rule for arrivals from Congo

Kenya will now require citizens arriving from the Democratic Republic of Congo to undergo a 21 day quarantine, Duale said. Congo declared a large Ebola outbreak in May, and Kenya's first case arrived from there. The quarantine rule is meant to catch any imported case before it can spread.

For now, the numbers point in one direction. Nine cases, seven recoveries, no new infection in more than three weeks, and the last patient home. The next 42 days decide whether that holds.

By the numbers

The outbreak stayed small, and the ministry figures show why officials are ready to start the count. Nine cases were reported in total since early October. Seven of those patients recovered. Two died, the first of them the man who arrived from Congo at the start of the outbreak. Eleven people were still in quarantine as contacts of confirmed cases until Wednesday, when the last of them were released. The 42 day count runs from November 12 to the expected declaration date of December 23, and the separate quarantine for arrivals from Congo is 21 days, one full incubation period.