The United States has raised its travel advisory for Kenya to the second-highest level, telling Americans to reconsider travel.

Level 3 means “reconsider travel”, one step below Level 4’s “do not travel”. Level 2 advises travellers to exercise increased caution, while Level 1 recommends normal precautions. The advisory is travel advice, not a ban on Americans travelling to Kenya.

The State Department issued the change on 19 October, saying the level “was changed from Level 2 to Level 3 due to health risks”. Its advisory points to a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notice on Bundibugyo Ebola in Kenya, but gives no case numbers and does not say which outbreak developments prompted the change.

Kenya had confirmed nine cases and one death by 20 October. The nine confirmed cases were part of one cluster; officials had found no evidence that the virus had spread beyond it. Health officials quoted by AP and Reuters said 134 of 135 identified contacts were in quarantine.

The first patient, a Kenyan man who had lived in the Democratic Republic of Congo, travelled through Uganda to Nairobi, officials told AP. He died in hospital on 5 October.

The advisory also warns of crime, kidnapping, terrorism, unrest and traffic risks. It separately advises Americans not to travel to Eastleigh and Kibera in Nairobi and several northern and coastal areas because of other risks.

Kenya has not suspended travel, trade or public gatherings, which is consistent with World Health Organisation guidance against suspending flights, closing borders or denying entry to people from affected countries.

Uganda has been at Level 4 since 17 May, when the State Department raised its advisory over the Ebola outbreak in the DRC. A 4 June update left the level unchanged. The current advisory also cites crime, terrorism and unrest.

Uganda recorded 20 confirmed cases and two deaths. The government announced the end of local transmission on 28 July; the WHO declared the outbreak over on 27 August. Despite this, some travel measures have continued. On 11 October, the CDC extended for 30 days its suspension of entry for certain non-US citizens and nationals who had been in Uganda, the DRC or South Sudan during the previous 21 days. The order includes lawful permanent residents, but exempts US citizens and nationals. The CDC cited the continuing risk of Ebola infection from the DRC.

Canada also extended its measures to 27 November. It has suspended already-issued travel or immigration documents for foreign nationals who listed one of the affected countries as their last country of residence when they applied. The United Arab Emirates, on the other hand, eased its precautionary entry measures for Ugandan nationals on 26 September, while keeping measures for the DRC and South Sudan.

Entebbe handled 31.6 per cent fewer international passengers from June to August than a year earlier, according to Uganda Civil Aviation Authority figures. The year-on-year gap narrowed from about a third in June to under 30 per cent in August, but the monthly shortfall remained about 70,000 passengers. The totals combine arrivals and departures and do not separate tourists.

The authority said July and August were usually peak months, “but recent travel restrictions had an impact”. In August, it told a parliamentary committee that international traffic had fallen in the first half of 2026, citing Ebola and the closure of parts of Middle East airspace from 28 February. The UCAA also said in August that Emirates and flydubai had resumed Entebbe flights in phases after earlier service cuts.

The Bank of Uganda listed weaker tourism receipts among factors behind a $1.4bn widening of the current account deficit to $4.6bn in the 12 months to August, but did not quantify tourism’s contribution. And in his independence address, President Yoweri Museveni said Ebola “also scared away some tourists”, the Daily Monitor reported on 12 October.

Kenya received 2.7mn international visitors in 2025, according to tourism ministry figures reported by The Star, which said the US was its largest single source market.