Kenya has confirmed its ninth Ebola case, with health authorities saying all infections recorded so far are linked to a single cluster.
The country’s health ministry announced on Tuesday that the latest patient, a 24-year-old man, tested positive on Monday. He is a close family member of the first confirmed case.
The ministry said the man was already in quarantine when he developed symptoms and was isolated, tested and placed on treatment immediately after his infection was confirmed.
Kenya recorded its first case on October 6, involving a businessman in his 40s who had lived in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where a major Ebola outbreak has been ongoing since May.
The man died in Nairobi on October 5, before the first case was officially reported. Eight additional infections have since been identified, most involving people who had close contact with him.
The health ministry said there was no evidence of transmission beyond the nine confirmed cases, which it described as belonging to one cluster.
Authorities have intensified contact tracing as new infections emerge. Of the 135 contacts identified so far, 134 have been traced and quarantined, according to the ministry.
The outbreak has also prompted concern over international travel, with the United States asking its citizens to reconsider travelling to Kenya and raising its travel advisory because of health risks.
Meanwhile, the Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has exceeded 9,000 cases, with 4,381 deaths recorded, according to Congolese health authorities.
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