Kenya's first Ebola death has triggered a race to trace everyone the victim came into contact with, as the United Nations and partners provide full support, the World Health Organization's (WHO) top official in the country has told UN News in her first interview on the case.
Speaking in Nairobi on Wednesday, WHO Representative Dr. Neema Rusibamayila Kimambo said the coming days would be decisive in preventing community spread of the Bundibugyo strain of the virus, which has now claimed its first life in Kenya.
The victim, a local man who had lived in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) for several years, fell ill there, where a deadly outbreak continues to spread in the east.
He flew to Nairobi via Kampala and Entebbe in Uganda on 3 October, went straight to hospital and died in the Kenyan capital on Monday.
Authorities have since identified the people who had come in direct contact with him from social contact and his admission to hospital.
"This is an outbreak of an imported case, one who came in and went straight to hospital, but the Government is working to identify all the relevant contacts as part of their response to this outbreak," Dr Kimambo told UN News.
Contact tracing underway
She said a list of contacts has been identified, including around 10 of the man's relatives who "have been very cooperative, and some actually volunteered themselves and they are now already placed under quarantine."
Meanwhile, 21 health workers who served him in hospital, as well as lab nurses and others, have also been contacted.
Even though these professionals used infection prevention and control (IPC) measures, "the plan is to make sure that they are all under quarantine and decisions have already been made where the staff of the Nairobi Hospital are to be quarantined," she said.
The Kenyan Government is also working with the airline to contact the roughly 23 passengers and four crew members who were on the flight from Entebbe to Kampala.
