Kenya has confirmed an eighth Ebola case after health officials tested a support staff member (49) who had been in quarantine since 9 October.

Health ministry director Patrick Amoth told Citizen TV late on Sunday that authorities tested 38 people, with one coming back positive.

The man worked at a health facility, handling tasks like laundry, and likely caught the virus in the room of Kenya’s first Ebola patient, Amoth said.

Kenya reported its first case on 6 October – a businessman in his forties who had lived in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where a major outbreak has raged since May.

The businessman travelled by car and plane via Uganda to Kenya, where he died on 5 October.

The seven other cases in Kenya are relatives of the first patient or health workers who treated him. Amoth said they remain in stable condition.

The latest patient showed symptoms including fever, high temperature, headaches and muscle pain.

Kenyan health authorities said last week they had identified 130 contacts, with 128 traced and now in quarantine.

Neighbouring Uganda recorded 20 cases – almost all brought in from DRC – and two deaths before declaring the outbreak over within its borders in August.

In the DRC, the outbreak has passed 9 000 cases, with 4 381 deaths, according to Congolese health authorities.

ALSO READ: Ebola outbreak in DR Congo claims more than 2 000 lives