Kenya releases first Ebola contacts from quarantine, milestone in containment efforts

NAIROBI, Oct 26 — Kenya on Monday released from quarantine the first group of ​people who came into contact with its index Ebola patient, a milestone in its efforts to contain cases to ‌a single infection cluster.

The 20 people released completed 21 days of monitoring without developing ⁠Ebola symptoms and are in ​good health, the director-general in ⁠Kenya's health ministry, Patrick Amoth, said in a statement.

Kenya has ‌reported nine Ebola ‌cases so far, two of whom have died. The remaining ⁠seven patients are stable and receiving ⁠treatment, Amoth said, adding that 98 others still in quarantine would be released in four waves beginning on November 3.

"This is a milestone worth celebrating," Amoth said. "It is also a reminder that the work is not yet done."

Kenya's first case ‌died in a hospital in Nairobi ​on October 5, after which eight others fell ill while in quarantine. It announced on Friday that a second person had died.

Ebola's spread from Congo, where the outbreak was declared in mid-May, to Kenya has raised concerns about lapses in border screening.

Nigeria has said its first Ebola case in more than a ​decade, which it reported last week, appears to be closely related ‌to Kenya's index ‌case, citing ⁠genomic analysis. The two cases both flew out of Uganda's Entebbe airport on the same day in early October.

Amoth said those leaving quarantine posed no risk to their families or communities where ‌they live and urged ​Kenyans to welcome them home. "We cannot ‌afford to drop our ⁠vigilance," he ​said.

(Reporting by Vincent Mumo Nzilani and Ammu Kannampilly;Editing by Alexander Winning and ​David Holmes)

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