Kenya has discharged its last Ebola patient, the seventh person to recover from the virus, marking a major milestone in efforts to contain the disease in the East African country.
The country will now begin a 42-day countdown before it can officially be declared Ebola-free.
Kenya confirmed its first-ever Ebola case in early October after a businessman died days after arriving in the capital, Nairobi.
He had contracted the virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where more than 5,000 people have died in an ongoing outbreak that began in May. His mother also later died from the disease.
Kenya’s Health Minister, Aden Duale, said on Wednesday that 135 identified contacts of infected patients had also completed their 21-day isolation period.
“Today with the discharge of the last patient we can confirm and tell the world that seven patients have recovered – and all contacts have completed their follow-up monitoring,” Duale said.
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) described the development as an important achievement in the regional response to the outbreak.
“This is an encouraging moment for Kenya and for Africa. We must sustain surveillance and vigilance until the outbreak is officially declared over,” Africa CDC Director-General, Jean Kaseya, said in a post on X.
Duale said the government would maintain heightened surveillance at border crossings, airports, health facilities and within communities throughout the 42-day countdown.
He added that emergency response teams would remain on alert across the country, while health authorities would continue monitoring travellers arriving from affected countries.
Kenyans returning from Ebola-affected areas are required to complete electronic health declarations before travelling, undergo screening on arrival and observe a 21-day quarantine under the supervision of health teams.
The minister also urged countries that had imposed travel and visa restrictions on Kenya to reconsider the measures, adding that the country had no intention of serving as a quarantine centre for another nation.