NAIROBI, Kenya Oct 6 – The Ministry of Health is racing to trace dozens of people who may have come into contact with Kenya’s first confirmed Ebola patient after the Kenyan died while receiving treatment at Nairobi Hospital.

📻 Breaking It Down

Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale said 28 contacts had already been identified, including family members and healthcare workers who attended to the patient.

The ministry is also pursuing 23 passengers and four crew members who were on the same flight as the deceased, in a race to determine whether the virus was transmitted to anyone during his journey from the Democratic Republic of Congo through Uganda to Nairobi.

“So far we have listed 28 contacts of the deceased including family members and health workers who attended to the deceased. We are also pursuing a further 23 passengers and four crew members who were on the same flight with the deceased,” Duale said.

📌 What You Need to Know

He added that arrangements were underway to quarantine people considered to have been at risk of exposure.

“Arrangements for quarantine of those at risk to protect the public is ongoing,” the CS said.

The development has placed Kenya’s disease surveillance and contact-tracing systems under their most serious test since the government began preparing for the regional Ebola threat.

The patient, a Kenyan citizen who had lived in the DRC for seven years, fell ill about a month ago and received treatment at several hospitals in the country before beginning his journey back to Kenya.

He travelled by road from the DRC to Kampala, Uganda, where he boarded Jambojet flight JM8523 to Nairobi.

The flight landed at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport at 1.10pm on Saturday, October 3, carrying the patient alongside other passengers and crew.

📰 Source: Capital FM Kenya