Kenya discharges five Ebola patients, no new cases reported

Kenya on Tuesday discharged five Ebola patients from hospital after laboratory tests confirmed they had cleared the virus.

The country has sought to limit cases to a single infection cluster by tracing and quarantining contacts of patients.

The health ministry said in a statement that the country's two remaining Ebola patients were continuing to receive treatment in Nairobi hospitals.

Kenya has reported nine Ebola cases so far, two of which have died, with no new infections recorded since October 19, the ministry added.

It said 46 contacts of the first Ebola case had been released from quarantine, adding to the 20 who returned home on October 26.

Another 52 contacts still in quarantine are expected to be released by November 11 on completing 21 days since their last exposure.

Ebola's spread from Congo, where the outbreak was declared in mid-May, to Kenya has raised concerns about lapses in border screening.

The disease has now been reported in four countries across eastern, central and western Africa, giving it the widest geographic spread of any outbreak on the continent to date.