The government has confirmed the release of its first 20 Ebola contacts after they completed the mandatory 21-day monitoring period without developing symptoms, the Ministry of Health has announced.

In a press release issued on Monday, October 26, 2026, Director-General for Health Patrick Amoth said the individuals were in good health and had met the criteria for returning home.

“Today, the first twenty (20) contacts who have completed the full 21-day monitoring period and are in good health are returning home to their families,” Amoth stated.

The ministry said the remaining 98 contacts were expected to leave quarantine in four waves beginning November 3, depending on their individual health assessments.

These contacts were a result of the first imported case in Kenya on October 3, after a Kenyan citizen who was living in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) came into the country via Uganda undetected. The government has since urged communities to welcome those released home warmly, warning against stigma or discrimination against people who had completed quarantine without developing symptoms.

The ministry acknowledged that quarantine could take an emotional toll on individuals and their families, adding that mental health professionals were providing counselling and psychosocial support to contacts, patients and frontline health workers. " Each of the twenty contacts was assessed against the release criteria, including 21 days without any symptoms since their last exposure. They do not pose any risk to their families, colleagues or neighbors, and we ask communities to welcome them back home warmly," the Ministry urged. T he Ministry further confirmed that as of now, Kenya’s confirmed Ebola cases remain at nine, including two deaths, translating to a case fatality rate of 22.2 per cent, while seven patients remain stable in treatment units.

Genomic sequencing of three samples linked the infections to the first confirmed case and the Bundibugyo virus lineage in the DRC, with six other samples still undergoing analysis. Meanwhile, Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale said Kenya could be declared Ebola-free in 21 days if no new cases are reported, meeting the required 42-day period, freeing the country from perpetual panic. According to Duale, the reason is that the virus has not spread to a wider community, with the ministry being able to suppress and further contain all contacts with the first case.

Amref Health Africa Group CEO Dr Githinji Gitahi, on the other hand, attributed Kenya’s Ebola containment to being highly effective, with an extremely high percentage of contact-tracing coverage, but warned that border surveillance remains a vulnerability. "In Kenya, I can say that we have almost 100 percent contact tracing from the index case. The cases identified are the ones who have actually been contacted and are under monitoring, and therefore care is immediate and quick because care determines the outcome," Githinji stated.