Kenya’s nine-case Ebola outbreak has entered a 42-day countdown to a possible disease-free declaration, after the final patient was discharged and the last contacts cleared monitoring, the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Africa said.
The countdown began Nov. 12. Kenya could be declared free of Ebola on Dec. 23 if no new case is recorded during the period, according to the WHO. The final 11 people under contact monitoring went home Nov. 11, the agency said, leaving no one in treatment or quarantine.
Cabinet Secretary for Health Aden Duale said the 42 days equal twice the virus’s maximum incubation time. “The countdown is not the end of our response,” he said. The WHO said rapid-response teams will remain on alert in every county, each alert will be investigated, and survivor follow-up care will continue.
Kenya confirmed its first case on Oct. 6 and its last on Oct. 19. Seven patients recovered and two died. Contact tracers identified 135 people who had been close to the first patient, who had traveled from the Democratic Republic of the Congo through Uganda. The eight other patients were already in quarantine when they became ill; the WHO said the virus did not spread in the community. EconoTimes previously covered the nine-case cluster and contact-tracing effort.
The outbreak remains active in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where WHO data recorded 11,042 confirmed cases and 5,387 confirmed deaths as of Nov. 9. Kenya’s next milestone is Dec. 23, when the 42-day period ends if no new case has been recorded.
