Kenya gazettes Ebola rules: 21-day quarantine for contacts, no repatriation of bodies, The Star reports

Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale has gazetted the Public Health (Ebola Disease) Rules, 2026, which put contacts of Ebola patients under quarantine for 21 days and make it an offence to ignore a lawful quarantine order, The Star reported on 12 October.

The rules were published as Legal Notice No. 204 in Kenya Gazette Supplement No. 240, dated 12 October, according to The Star and Capital FM.

A second notice published the same day, Legal Notice No. 203, declares Ebola disease caused by the Bundibugyo virus a “formidable epidemic disease” under Section 35 of the Public Health Act, The Standard reported.

Kenya confirmed its first imported case on 6 October, The Standard reported. The patient was a Kenyan citizen who had been living in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and travelled through Uganda to Nairobi. He died despite supportive treatment.

Under the rules, anyone who knows or reasonably suspects that a person has Ebola, or has died from it, must report it immediately to a medical officer of health, the nearest health facility or a national government administrative officer, The Star reported. Health workers must report suspected and confirmed cases and deaths, and follow any oral report with a written or electronic record.

Contacts are quarantined for 21 days from their last relevant exposure and monitored daily for symptoms. Medical officers of health can ask the National Police Service to enforce isolation and quarantine orders, The Star reported.

Each order must state its reasons, requirements, location, duration and review arrangements, and must be lifted or changed once its basis no longer applies. Quarantined people must have access to medical care, food and water. The government meets the cost in government facilities, while people in private facilities generally pay unless a medical officer directs otherwise in writing, according to The Star.

Ebola testing is limited to the national reference laboratory or a facility the Cabinet Secretary designates. Port health officers may screen travellers, require health declarations and impose quarantine or travel restrictions. The Star reported that a restriction cannot be imposed solely because a person arrived from an Ebola-affected country, without an assessment of possible exposure. Operators of international conveyances must report suspected cases or deaths on board and keep passenger and crew records.

Only trained personnel in protective equipment may handle bodies, which must go into sealed, leak-resistant bags. Washing, embalming and dressing bodies for funerals are prohibited. Burial must take place without undue delay at a lawful site, and families are to be consulted and may observe religious and cultural practices that do not conflict with infection control. The rules prohibit transferring or repatriating bodies outside Kenya, The Star reported.

Ignoring a lawful quarantine order, giving false information and helping a person escape isolation are offences. So is failing, without reasonable excuse, to comply with lawful requirements on screening, reporting, investigations, contact tracing, isolation, quarantine, decontamination or safe burial. Penalties follow Section 164 of the Public Health Act, The Star reported.

Citizen Digital reported that the rules recognise the Ebola, Sudan, Bundibugyo and Taï Forest viruses, and that the declaration does not on its own mean a nationwide outbreak has been declared.

In a 12 October update, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Kenya had screened more than 665,000 travellers at points of entry and advised against travel or trade restrictions on Kenya, Uganda and the DRC, The Standard reported.

Duale must review the need for the rules at intervals of no more than three months. The rules expire 12 months after they take effect unless revoked earlier, according to The Star.