NAIROBI
Nine Kenyans who just returned from Liberia after months of being stranded in the Ebola-hit nation have been declared free of the deadly virus after they all tested negative, the Kenyan Ministry of Health said Wednesday.
"KEMRI [the Kenya Medical Research Institute] has confirmed that all the blood samples have tested negative for Ebola. This is a sigh of relief for the whole country," Medical Services Director Nicholas Muraguri told Anadolu Agency by phone.
The nine were released following a 12 hours of seclusion at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, where they were immediately put into quarantine after landing.
According to the Ministry of Health, the nine will be monitored over the coming 21 days.
"They will still be under our watch, and we have advised their families to immediately report any symptoms that may be related to Ebola," Muraguri said.
Initially, 12 people had been expected to return to the East African country as part of a first batch of stranded Kenyan nationals who had left Monrovia for Nairobi via Brussels.
Three of these, however, reportedly opted to stay.
In recent months, Ebola – a contagious disease for which there is no known treatment or cure – has killed 4,922 people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
A total of 4,912 Ebola deaths have been reported in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia alone.
www.aa.com.tr/en
