Kenya has reported its first-ever Ebola death, the health minister announced on Tuesday, after a Kenyan man who had been living in the Democratic Republic of Congo died after returning to the country.
The man, who has not been named, fell ill around a month ago and had been treated in the DRC, Health Minister Aden Duale told reporters, before travelling overland to the Ugandan capital, Kampala, and then flying to Nairobi on October 3.
He added that he was screened and confirmed positive for the deadly virus, saying that the man “regrettably passed on last night at around 1130”.
Duale said that they had listed 28 contacts of the deceased, including family members and healthcare workers, but that so far “only one test has turned positive and is the one that we have just discussed”.
“I wish to assure the public not to panic, as all systems are in place to mitigate the spread of the disease,” he added.
Kenya has previously never recorded an Ebola case and Kenyans reacted furiously to government plans earlier this year for the creation of an Ebola facility at Laikipia Air Base, about 200 kilometres (125 miles) from Nairobi.
The DRC declared its 17th Ebola outbreak in mid-May. The disease has killed more than 15,000 people in Africa over the past 50 years.
As of October 2, the World Health Organization had recorded 4,082 deaths out of 8,463 cases since the emergence of the Bundibugyo strain of the virus, for which there is still neither a vaccine nor a specific treatment.