Kenya’s first Ebola case, a patient who travelled for weeks by road and air through three countries without being detected until he arrived in Nairobi, has raised questions about border control and how to trace the virus across countries.
Health Minister Aden Duale told journalists on Wednesday that contact tracing was ongoing and that the number of contacts had risen to 57, with 10 already quarantined.
The patient, Kenyan man, drove for hours by road within Congo and across the border into Uganda. He boarded a local flight while in Congo, and it is unclear if he used any other forms of public transport.
Authorities have looked at the flight manifest of the other flight he took from Kampala, Uganda, to Nairobi, and passengers and crew onboard have been added to the contact list.
Plane cleaners
They’re also looking to trace workers who cleaned the plane after it landed, as well as passengers who traveled on the same plane subsequently.
“Even the people who cleaned that aircraft after it landed on Saturday, they are part of the people we are tracing. The immigration and the customs officials who served that patient will also be part of the contact tracing,” the minister said.
Ebola is highly contagious and spreads in the human population through contact with bodily fluids such as vomit, blood or semen, and with contaminated surfaces and materials such as bedding and clothing.
Kenya’s Director-General for Health, Patrick Amoth, said on Wednesday that a meeting was scheduled with officials from Congo and Uganda and the Africa CDC to investigate what transpired during the patient’s journey.
Border controls
Kenya has been boosting its border controls Kenya’s Health Ministry has heightened surveillance at border entry points and created an Ebola hotline for citizens to report symptoms related to Ebola.
The ministry said the country has enough supplies, including personal protective equipment, and has mobilised resources since the outbreak started in May in Congo.
The ministry added that it had designated a specific gate at the country’s main airport for passengers travelling from 10 countries located within the outbreak’s epicenter.
