US raises Kenya travel advisory over Ebola and security concerns

The United States has raised its travel advisory for Kenya, urging Americans to reconsider travel to the East African country due to health and security concerns.

The advisory, updated on 19 October, moves Kenya from Level 2 to Level 3, citing risks including Ebola, crime, kidnapping, terrorism, civil unrest and road safety.

The US has maintained its highest warning, Level 4, for certain areas, including Nairobi's Eastleigh and Kibera neighbourhoods and parts of several counties, advising Americans not to travel to those locations.

Kenyan health authorities say there is no evidence of wider community transmission of the disease and that people who may have been exposed are being monitored.

The Ministry of Health maintains that the overall risk to the public remains low, with containment measures in place.

The updated advisory comes as Kenya seeks to reassure residents and international visitors about public health and security.

Kenya Ebola update

Ebola cases in Kenya rose to eight on Sunday after another person tested positive while in quarantine, having been identified as a contact of the first patient.

Health Ministry Director-General Dr Patrick Amoth said the eighth case involved a 49-year-old patient attendant who had attended to the first Ebola patient, who died at Nairobi Hospital two days after arriving in the country from Congo via Uganda.

Amoth said people in quarantine were being tested after developing symptoms. He added that the other six patients were stable after receiving supportive treatment.

Some 130 contacts, including health workers, were listed after the first patient died on Oct. 5, with 128 remaining in quarantine.

Ebola is highly contagious and spreads through direct contact with an infected person's bodily fluids, including blood and vomit, or through contact with contaminated materials and surfaces, such as bedding and clothing. Congo has been experiencing its deadliest outbreak, with at least 4,000 deaths since May.

Kenya’s first case involved a 40-year-old Kenyan man who travelled from Congo through Uganda, arriving in Kenya on Oct. 3. A relative drove him to the hospital, and he died on Oct. 5.