Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale/ FILEHealth Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale has introduced strict rules to control Ebola, making it an offence to ignore lawful quarantine orders, provide false information or help someone escape isolation.
The regulations also require suspected cases to be reported immediately, give health officials powers to trace contacts and restrict movement, and set out how people who die from the disease must be handled and buried.
The Public Health (Ebola Disease) Rules, 2026, were published in Legal Notice No. 204 of the Kenya Gazette Supplement No. 240 dated October 12, 2026.
Under the rules, anyone who fails without reasonable excuse to comply with lawful requirements on screening, reporting, investigations, contact tracing, isolation, quarantine, decontamination or safe burial commits an offence.
Those found guilty face penalties prescribed under Section 164 of the Public Health Act, according to the gazette notice.
The rules also empower medical officers of health to seek assistance from the National Police Service to enforce lawful isolation and quarantine orders.
Anyone apprehended or returned after leaving isolation or quarantine in defiance of a lawful order must be handled under lawful authority, with medical supervision and appropriate infection prevention measures.
The regulations require anyone who knows or reasonably suspects that another person has Ebola, or has died from the disease, to report the matter immediately to a medical officer of health, the nearest health facility or a national government administrative officer.
“A person who becomes aware, or has reasonable grounds to suspect, that another person has Ebola disease or has died from Ebola disease shall immediately orally, electronically or in writing through an available reporting channel notify” the relevant authorities, the gazette notice states.
Healthcare professionals and people in charge of health facilities must also immediately report suspected or confirmed cases and deaths to the responsible medical officer of health. Oral reports must be followed by written or electronic records as soon as practicable.
Once a suspected case is reported, medical officers of health must investigate and arrange for the identification and assessment of people who may have been exposed. They may also examine relevant premises and records and obtain information needed for their investigations.
The rules allow medical officers of health to order isolation for suspected or confirmed cases and quarantine or movement restrictions for contacts, depending on their exposure.
Contacts placed under quarantine must be monitored daily for symptoms for 21 days from their last relevant exposure.
“A contact shall be placed under quarantine, in accordance with the approved protocols for twenty-one days from the last relevant exposure, and shall be monitored daily for symptoms of Ebola disease,” the notice states.
Isolation and quarantine orders must specify the reasons for the restrictions, the requirements imposed, the location and duration, and arrangements for reassessment and review. Restrictions must be changed or ended promptly when the reasons for imposing them change or no longer exist.
People placed under compulsory isolation or quarantine must have access to appropriate medical care, food, water and other essential assistance.
The government will meet the cost when a government facility is used, while individuals will generally pay when placed in private facilities, unless a medical officer of health directs the placement in writing.
The regulations also restrict Ebola testing to the national reference laboratory or another facility designated by the Cabinet Secretary. Laboratories that receive specimens from suspected cases but are not authorised to test them must refer the samples to an approved facility.
At Kenya’s entry and exit points, port health officers may screen travellers, require health declarations and impose quarantine or travel restrictions where necessary to prevent transmission.
However, the rules state that restrictions cannot be imposed solely because a person has arrived from an Ebola-affected country without an assessment of possible exposure.
Operators of international conveyances must report suspected Ebola cases or deaths on board, preserve passenger and crew records for contact tracing and cooperate with public health officials.
The regulations also prescribe precautions for handling people who die from suspected or confirmed Ebola. Only trained personnel wearing appropriate protective equipment may handle the bodies, which must be placed in sealed, leak-resistant body bags.
Washing, embalming and dressing bodies for funerals are prohibited under the Ebola-specific precautions. Burials must be arranged without undue delay at an appropriate lawful site, subject to death registration, permits and any required investigation.
Families must be consulted and allowed to observe religious and cultural practices where these do not conflict with infection prevention requirements.
The rules also prohibit the transfer or repatriation outside Kenya of bodies of people who have died from Ebola.
Duale is required to review the continued need for the regulations and related restrictions at intervals not exceeding three months. The rules will cease to have effect 12 months after commencement unless revoked earlier, according to the gazette notice.
