Kenyans planning to travel to Saudi Arabia, whether for work, Umrah or business, now face a closed door. The Saudi government has stopped its own citizens from travelling to Kenya and has frozen all visa types for people coming from the country. The announcement was made on Friday, October 30, 2026, as Kenya continues to deal with an Ebola outbreak.
The Saudi Public Health Authority said the entry ban also covers travellers who reach the Kingdom through a third country. In other words, flying through Dubai, Addis Ababa or Doha will not get you around the restriction if you have been in Kenya. Reports from Gulf media add that the rule applies to anyone who stayed in Kenya within 21 days before arriving.
In its statement, Riyadh said it acted after studying the disease situation and wanted to lower the chance of the virus reaching its borders. The Kingdom said the steps are precautionary, and that the situation inside Saudi Arabia remains stable and closely watched.
This is not the first time the Kingdom has taken such action. Saudi Arabia says its approach to infectious diseases dates back to July 2019 and was tightened in May 2026 following the Ebola outbreak. In June 2026, it stopped its citizens from travelling to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and South Sudan, and blocked arrivals from those countries. Kenya has now joined that list.
The decision follows Kenya's confirmation of its first Ebola Bundibugyo case on October 6, 2026. The patient was a Kenyan man who had travelled from the DRC through Uganda. According to the Ministry of Health, he arrived in Nairobi on October 3 and was isolated at Nairobi Hospital, but he died on October 5 despite treatment.
Eight more people later tested positive, four relatives and four health workers who attended to him. By October 26, Kenya had recorded nine confirmed cases and two deaths. One of the dead was a 65-year-old woman, a close relative of the first victim.
The Ministry of Health says it has stepped up contact tracing, laboratory testing, surveillance and screening at entry points across the country. The public is asked to report anything that looks like an Ebola emergency.
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