Ebola outbreak: Kenya confirms ninth case, Nigeria reports first

Update, 24 October 2026

• Kenya records a second Ebola death (announced late 23 October, East Africa Time): Kenya's Ministry of Health said a patient who had been in quarantine as a close family contact of the country's first case died early on Friday evening, 23 October, while receiving supportive care at an infectious disease unit in Nairobi. The patient was Kenya's third confirmed case and developed symptoms on 13 October, the day of admission, according to a statement from Director General of Health Patrick Amoth reported by KBC and Citizen Digital. "This loss brings the number of deaths to two among the nine confirmed cases," the ministry said, according to Reuters. The Associated Press and Reuters reported the death on the evening of 23 October (UTC). The ministry asked the public and media to respect the family's privacy.
• Still one cluster, no new infections: The ministry said all nine confirmed cases remain within one cluster of known contacts and that there is "no evidence of community transmission," KBC reported. Seven patients are being treated in two isolation facilities. The AP reported that about 135 contacts were identified, that eight of them tested positive while in quarantine (four health workers and four close family members), and that no new infections were reported on 23 October. Contacts who complete 21 days of quarantine without symptoms are due to start going home from Saturday, 24 October, according to the AP.
• Nigeria still has one case (23–24 October): Nigeria's Federal Ministry of Health said on 23 October that the Abuja patient is "showing signs of recovery," that there is no evidence of community spread, and that contact tracing and monitoring of the 44 contacts continue, Naija News reported. Health Minister Muhammad Ali Pate said the Nigerian case "appears to be closely related" to the Kenyan case, and Africa CDC noted that the first patients in both countries passed through Entebbe International Airport in Uganda on 3 October, according to the AP. How the Nigerian patient was infected has not been confirmed.
• New outbreak totals (US CDC, counts as of 21 October): 9,735 confirmed cases and 4,690 confirmed deaths, including 9,704 cases and 4,687 deaths in the DRC. The CDC table had not yet included Kenya's second death. The table below has been updated.

Update, October 22, 2026

Africa CDC Director General Jean Kaseya invited African health ministers to an extraordinary virtual meeting on 28 October, the Associated Press and CIDRAP reported on 21 October, saying Ebola "is now affecting three regions of Africa." In Abuja, the Nigerian patient was first treated for malaria before being tested for Ebola; Health Minister Muhammad Ali Pate said the 44 contacts were under quarantine measures and that officials were obtaining passenger manifests (Premium Times). WHO Regional Director for Africa Mohamed Janabi said "one imported case does not by itself mean that Nigeria is experiencing an Ebola outbreak," and UN News said the WHO was supporting Nigeria with case investigation, contact tracing and infection control.

Key takeaways

• Kenya recorded its second Ebola death on 23 October: a patient who was already in quarantine as a family contact of the first case. Kenya has nine confirmed cases, two deaths and seven patients in isolation, all in one cluster, with no evidence of community transmission, the health ministry says.
• Africa CDC has called an extraordinary virtual meeting of African health ministers for 28 October. US CDC data put the outbreak at 9,735 confirmed cases and 4,690 confirmed deaths as of 21 October.
• Nigeria confirmed its first case of the outbreak in Abuja on 20 October 2026. According to the WHO, it is an imported case in a traveller who had recently been in Uganda, and 44 contacts are being monitored. The health ministry said on 23 October that the patient is showing signs of recovery.
• The WHO says Nigeria is the fifth country to detect the virus since the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) declared the outbreak on 15 May 2026.
• The DRC remains the centre of the outbreak. National data cited by the ECDC show 9,552 confirmed cases and 4,602 deaths up to 18 October.
• Uganda's health ministry says it has no confirmed active case. Where the Nigerian patient was infected is still under investigation.

Kenya: nine cases, two deaths, one cluster

The Ebola outbreak has reached Kenya and Nigeria: Kenya has confirmed nine cases and two deaths, all in one cluster of known contacts, and Nigeria confirmed its first case in Abuja on 20 October, an imported case with 44 contacts being monitored.

The cluster started with an imported case. A traveller who had lived in the DRC passed through Uganda, arrived in Nairobi on 3 October and died on 5 October, the day the infection was confirmed. In its Disease Outbreak News of 8 October, the WHO recorded this as Kenya's first imported case. Later cases were found among people already quarantined after contact with the first patient. When Africa CDC reported Kenya's tally of seven confirmed cases on 17 October, it said the cases included health workers and a family member.

According to the ministry's update reported by Premium Times, 134 of 135 identified contacts, or 99.3%, had been traced and placed in quarantine. At that point the eight surviving patients were described as stable and responding to supportive care. One of them, a family contact who had shown symptoms since 13 October, died on 23 October, leaving seven patients in two isolation facilities. The ministry said contacts who entered quarantine on 6 October and remain free of symptoms will finish the 21-day monitoring period and start returning home; the AP reported on 23 October that releases begin on Saturday, 24 October. Kenya has not restricted travel, trade or public gatherings. Separately, the US State Department raised its advisory for Kenya to Level 3, "Reconsider Travel," on 19 October and cited health risks among other factors, according to Newsweek.

Official counts do not all line up yet. The ECDC epidemiological update of 20 October listed eight confirmed cases in Kenya, with the latest reported on 18 October. Kenya's ninth case was announced shortly afterwards, so lists compiled by international agencies may lag behind the national figure.

Nigeria: an imported case in Abuja

The WHO Regional Office for Africa said Nigeria confirmed one imported case of Bundibugyo virus disease in the Federal Capital Territory on 20 October. The patient had recently travelled to Uganda. Symptoms began on 7 October, four days after arrival in Nigeria. The patient went to a private health facility in Abuja on 11 October, and laboratory tests confirmed the infection on 20 October. Health Minister Muhammad Ali Pate said the patient was treated for several days before the diagnosis was confirmed, France 24 reported. The patient is now in isolation.

The WHO said 44 contacts have been identified and are being monitored. France 24 reported that these include health workers, other patients, caregivers and people who travelled with the patient. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has activated its incident management system, and infection prevention and control is being strengthened at the private facility. The WHO said "investigations are ongoing to establish the likely source of her infection." France 24 noted that this is Nigeria's first recorded Ebola case since 2014.

Uganda has rejected suggestions that the infection happened there. Its health ministry said that "Uganda has no confirmed active Ebola case" and that passing through the country does not prove someone was infected there, according to The Kenya Times. The same report said Uganda had been declared free of Ebola in August 2026. Newsweek, citing a US CDC report, said Uganda had recorded 20 confirmed cases by 8 July, most of them imported.

The outbreak in numbers

The table below brings together the most recent official figures available. Each country reports on a different schedule, so the reporting dates differ.

Within the DRC, the ECDC update shows that Ituri province accounts for most cases (6,960 cases and 3,217 deaths), followed by North Kivu (2,084 cases and 1,176 deaths) and Haut-Uélé (415 cases and 177 deaths). In all, 66 of 178 health zones across eight provinces have been affected. The WHO put the crude case fatality ratio at about 48% in early October. The ECDC also lists medical evacuations of infected aid and health workers to European countries, including the Netherlands. The WHO does not count these as local transmission.

The international response

The WHO declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 17 May 2026. In its latest published risk assessment, the risk is very high in the DRC, high in neighbouring countries that share a land border with it, and low for the rest of the African region and the world. The WHO says no vaccine or specific treatment has been approved for Bundibugyo virus disease. A clinical trial of candidate treatments started enrolling patients in July, and early supportive care can improve survival. The WHO continues to advise against restricting travel to, or trade with, affected countries.

Africa CDC said on 17 October that it was working with Kenya on surveillance, coordination, risk communication and community engagement, and it called for stronger cross-border surveillance and information sharing. Its director general, Jean Kaseya, described the outbreak as the most geographically widespread Ebola outbreak on record. He called it an "extremely serious threat" and appealed for funding, supplies and health workers, France 24 reported. For the EU and EEA, the ECDC says the risk of importation from the outbreak areas "remains very low." The US CDC rates the risk to the US public as low, according to Newsweek.

What is known and what is not

• Known: Kenya has recorded two deaths among nine cases. All are reported to be within one cluster of contacts who were already being traced. Nigeria's case is classed as imported. Contact tracing is under way in both countries.
• Not yet known: where and how the Nigerian patient was infected; whether any of the 44 contacts in Abuja will test positive; and whether Kenya's cluster will close once contacts finish their 21-day monitoring, which begins ending on 24 October; and whether the Nigerian and Kenyan infections share a common source, as Nigeria's health minister has suggested.
• Still uncertain: the WHO describes Nigeria as the fifth country to detect the virus but did not name the others in its 20 October release. The US CDC lists the DRC, Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria and France, while UN News also refers to a case in the Netherlands. These differences may reflect how medical evacuations are counted. The DRC figures are still being reviewed and harmonised, according to the ECDC.

Health authorities in Europe are tracking a different, far rarer infection. France has confirmed the first documented human case of Shamonda virus, a midge-borne livestock virus, in a severely immunocompromised patient who died in Lyon; the WHO says wider spread is unlikely. Read more in our explainer on the first human Shamonda case.

What it means

The two new reports show the outbreak reaching places far from its centre in eastern DRC, mainly through travel. Kenya's experience so far suggests that an imported case can lead to further infections among family members and health workers before it is recognised. The same pattern shows the value of quarantining contacts quickly: every later Kenyan case was found among people already being monitored. Nigeria's case raises a different concern. The patient spent several days in a private facility before diagnosis, which is why the WHO and Nigerian authorities are concentrating on infection control in health facilities and on tracing everyone who was exposed. Africa CDC's 28 October ministerial meeting will be the next test of whether countries can agree on coordinated surveillance and funding. The next few weeks of contact monitoring in Abuja and Nairobi will show whether either country sees further spread.

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Sources

• WHO Regional Office for Africa: Nigeria confirms imported case of Ebola Bundibugyo virus disease (20 Oct 2026)
• WHO Disease Outbreak News: Ebola disease caused by Bundibugyo virus, Democratic Republic of the Congo (8 Oct 2026)
• ECDC: Ebola (Bundibugyo virus) outbreak epidemiological update (20 Oct 2026)
• Africa CDC: Africa CDC reaffirms support to Kenya following confirmation of four additional Ebola cases (17 Oct 2026)
• Premium Times: Kenya confirms ninth Ebola case, says all patients improving
• France 24: Nigeria records first Ebola case as outbreak spreads across Africa
• Newsweek: Nigeria confirms first Ebola case amid growing Africa outbreak
• US CDC: Ebola outbreak, current situation (updated 22 Oct 2026)
• UN News: WHO supports Nigeria after first Ebola case confirmed (21 Oct 2026)
• Associated Press via ABC News: Africa CDC calls Ebola crisis summit as Nigeria records first case (21 Oct 2026)
• CIDRAP: Nigeria announces its first Ebola case in 12 years
• Premium Times: How we are responding to new Ebola case in Abuja, minister (21 Oct 2026)
• Nigeria Health Watch via allAfrica: Govt confirms Ebola disease case in FCT, activates public health response (21 Oct 2026)
• Premium Times: One imported case does not mean Nigeria is experiencing outbreak, WHO (22 Oct 2026)
• KBC: Kenya records second Ebola death (23 Oct 2026)
• Reuters via Investing.com: Kenya reports second death from Ebola (23 Oct 2026)
• Associated Press via WSLS: Kenya announces 2nd Ebola death (23 Oct 2026)
• Citizen Digital: Ministry of Health announces second Ebola death in Kenya (23 Oct 2026)
• Naija News: Federal Government update on Ebola patient's condition (24 Oct 2026)
• The Kenya Times: Uganda responds after Nigeria links case to Kampala