Kenya releases last Ebola patient, starts 42-day countdown to disease-free status

NAIROBI, Nov 11 (Reuters) – Kenya discharged its last Ebola patient on Wednesday, starting a 42-day countdown to when the country can be declared free of the disease, Health Minister Aden Duale said. 

• Kenya has reported nine Ebola cases since early October, when a Kenyan man tested positive for the disease and died after arriving from Democratic Republic of Congo, where a large outbreak was declared in May

• The other cases were all contacts of the index case

• One of the other patients died and seven recovered

• No new infections have been recorded since October 19, the health ministry told a press conference

• The last 11 people who had come into contact with confirmed cases were released from quarantine on Wednesday, the health ministry said

• Kenya will now require citizens arriving from the Democratic Republic of Congo to undergo a 21-day quarantine, Duale said

• Ebola has been reported in four countries across eastern, central and western Africa, the widest geographic spread of any outbreak on the continent to date

• The outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is the second-largest on record, with more than 11,000 cases confirmed

(Reporting by Edwin Okoth, Writing by George Obulutsa, Editing by Timothy Heritage)