On Wednesday, the Ministry of Health said that it was screening travellers at all border and entry points, including those using domestic flights.
“Incoming travellers from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Uganda and other countries are undergoing screening using the thermo scanners and hand-held thermo guns at major airports, including Wilson Airport,” said a statement from the ministry.
A holding room has also been set up at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi for any suspected cases awaiting possible transfer to the Ebola treatment unit at the Kenyatta National Hospital.
On Wednesday, Uganda announced two more cases of Ebola following the reported diagnosis of a five-year-old boy with the virus on Tuesday. The boy, said to have travelled with his mother from the DRC on Sunday, succumbed to the virus and passed away on Tuesday night.
Seven of their relatives in Uganda are now in isolation because health officials fear they may be infected.
The boy’s mother, a 50-year-old woman also died in western Uganda, a day after her five-year-old grandson died. Three suspected Ebola patients are currently on the run after escaping from their isolation centre.
This is the first time Ebola has crossed the DRC into Uganda since the outbreak was declared a year ago and raises fears that the epidemic is likely to spread further and kill many more people.
The current Ebola epidemic which began in August last year in eastern Congo has already infected at least 2,062 people, killing 1,390 of them.
The outbreak is the second largest on record after a West African epidemic in 2013-2016 infected 28,000 people and killed 11,300, mostly in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.
