Ebola scare: MTRH places one under 21-day watch
The emergency section at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret City, Uasin Gishu County on September 18, 2026.
The Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) in Eldoret has placed one person under 21-day monitoring as a precaution against Ebola, with the hospital’s chief executive officer urging the public not to mistake the measure for a confirmed infection.
Speaking on Thursday, the hospital’s chief executive Dr Phillip Kirwa said monitoring people who may have been exposed to the virus was a standard public health precaution and did not mean they had contracted the disease.
“We have no Ebola-infected patients. Quarantine is not equal to an infected person,” Dr Kirwa said.
He said the individual would be discharged if they remained symptom-free throughout the 21-day monitoring period.
Dr Kirwa urged residents to remain calm and stressed the need to distinguish between precautionary public health measures and confirmed infections.
Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret, Uasin Gishu County.
The monitoring comes amid heightened national vigilance following reports of confirmed cases of the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola in Kenya.
The Ministry of Health’s response includes contact tracing, laboratory testing and infection prevention measures to contain the spread of the virus. Contacts of confirmed cases are monitored for symptoms throughout the incubation period.
Ebola has an incubation period of between two and 21 days. Early symptoms may include fever, fatigue, muscle pain, headache and sore throat, followed by vomiting, diarrhoea and rash. In severe cases, patients may experience internal or external bleeding.
The virus spreads through direct contact with the blood or other body fluids of an infected person who is symptomatic, or through contaminated objects. It is not transmitted through the air.
The hospital said it had strengthened its preparedness through infection prevention and control protocols, staff training, and procedures for identifying and managing suspected cases.
Health authorities have urged the public to rely on official updates from the Ministry of Health and recognised medical facilities, warning against sharing unverified information that could cause unnecessary panic.
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