Ebola patient slips through JKIA screening, raising preparedness questions

Screening at JKIA failed to detect symptoms, patient tested positive hours after landing in Nairobi.

Cabinet Secretary for Health Aden Duale addresses journalists at Afya House in Nairobi on October 6, 2026, following Kenya’s first Ebola death.

Kenya’s Ebola preparedness has come under scrutiny after screening protocols failed to detect a case at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, with the patient testing positive for the virus in Nairobi barely 24 hours before dying.

Health Services Director-General Patrick Amoth on Tuesday said the symptoms usually detected during screening before travel may have been masked by medication that the patient was on.

“It is potentially possible that some of the medication he was taking could be able to mask some of the symptoms and therefore give a false positive screening, meaning you could pass through the screening,” he said.

Source: Nation