Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale has said the ambulance that transported an Ebola patient from hospital to Lang’ata Cemetery will not be used again.
Speaking on NTV’s Fixing the Nation on Wednesday, Duale said the ambulance would instead be kept aside for possible use in transporting another Ebola patient.
“From a health point of view, the other ones, what you need to do is just fumigate, and you saw them yesterday fumigating that vehicle,” Duale said.
He said the ambulance had been fumigated and would not return to normal service.
Duale said the government would retain the ambulance for use in the event of another Ebola-related death.
His remarks came as the government sought to reassure the public about its preparedness to contain the Ebola case reported in Kenya.
Duale said Kenya does not have an Ebola outbreak, describing the case as an imported Ebola incident.
He said Kenya had screened about 650,000 passengers across its 15 points of entry since the Ebola outbreak was confirmed in May 2026, while 4,900 healthcare workers had been trained to respond to the disease.
Duale added that 276 suspected cases had tested negative, saying Kenya had put measures in place after the outbreak was announced by the World Health Organisation and Africa CDC.
“Since May of 2026, when the Ebola outbreak was confirmed and announced by both WHO and Africa CDC, we were not caught off guard like COVID,” he said.
The CS said the patient who tested positive in Kenya could be traced through his journey from northwestern DRC to Kisangani, Beni, Kinshasa and Kampala before arriving in Kenya.
On Tuesday, President William Ruto ordered an enhanced government response after Kenya confirmed its first imported case of Ebola Virus Disease, with the patient dying while receiving treatment in Nairobi.
Ruto directed the National Security Council Committee to convene, assess the situation and recommend measures to safeguard the country.
Twenty-one healthcare workers who attended to the deceased have also been placed under quarantine and are being closely monitored.
