Health authorities in Kenya confirmed an Ebola infection in a traveler who recently arrived from the Democratic Republic of Congo, marking the country’s first imported case linked to the outbreak in central Africa.

The Kenyan citizen fell ill in Congo a month ago and traveled by road to Uganda, Health Secretary Aden Duale told reporters in Nairobi on Tuesday. The patient arrived by plane in the Kenyan capital on Oct. 3 and died Monday, he said.

“The patient was given supportive treatment, but regrettably passed on last night,” Duale said. “Arrangements for safe and dignified burial of the deceased are ongoing, and the burial is planned later today in line with Ebola safe and dignified burial protocols.”

The authorities have listed 28 contacts including family members, plane passengers and health workers, he said. They will be isolated for 21 days. Authorities have also identified 23 other passengers and four crew members that had been on the same flight to Nairobi.

Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention is sending a high-level multidisciplinary team to Kenya to support the response, while Director General Jean Kaseya said he plans to travel to the country in the coming days to assess what additional help is needed.

The agency said the case underscores the need for stronger surveillance, cross-border information sharing and laboratory and rapid-response capacity across the region. More than 70% of new Ebola cases in Congo are still being detected in the community among people who hadn’t previously been identified and monitored as contacts, indicating that transmission chains continue to evade health authorities.

The Kenyan case comes as health agencies struggle to get ahead of an outbreak in Congo that has continued to expand geographically. The World Health Organization has warned the response is being “outpaced” amid violence, displacement and weak surveillance systems.

More than 8,000 people have been infected and at least 4,000 have died since the outbreak was declared almost five months ago.

Kenya, East Africa’s biggest economy, in June halted construction of a U.S.-funded Ebola isolation facility at a military airbase after the project was frozen by a High Court judge. The plan also sparked popular protests by local residents who said the facility would expose their community to a high risk of contagion from the deadly virus.

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—With assistance from Paul Richardson, Janice Kew, Jason Gale, Ana Monteiro and Alister Bull.

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