Kenya on high alert after patient’s d****y virus sc*re
George Kebaso, Mathew Ndung’u and Henry Wahinya
Kenya was on high alert yesterday after a student, who had arrived from China, was admitted to the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) after showing coronavirus-like symptoms.
The Kenya Airports Authority’s (KAA) port health officials wheeled the male patient believed to be in his early 20s to the highly quarantined facility to undergo further observations at around 9am.
The Ministry of Health last evening said the patient would remain isolated until the results of the specimen taken from him and taken to the National Influenza Centre, are out.
“The suspected case remains in the isolation facility at KNH while investigations and laboratory tests are undertaken. So far, this is the only suspected case,” the ministry said in a statement.
The government said the student had left Wuhan City on January 20 for Guangzhou, China from where he left for Nairobi through Bangkok, Thailand.
Get tested
“The traveller reported he had not been in contact with a known case of novel Coronavirus 2019 (2019-nCoV),” said the statement read by outgoing Cabinet secretary Sicily Kariuki.
The CS asked all passengers on board the KQ flight that had ferried the man to visit the nearest medical centre for tests.
Apart from sending the man’s specimen to the National Influenza Centre, Kariuki said they had also sent the same to two other centres in two different countries as well as the World Health Organisation lab in South Africa.
“We are liaising with KQ to ensure all those who were aboard the flight are taken for testing to determine their status,” Kariuki said.
Commenting on the case of three Chinese nationals in Kiambu whose arrival from China had caused some panic at the construction site of a dam, Kariuki said test results had confirmed that they were normal.
Earlier in the day, KQ had through a statement, confirmed that a passenger, who had travelled on one of its flights from Guangzhou to Nairobi, had been quarantined at the KNH.
“The decision to quarantine the passenger was reached by the government port health authorities stationed at JKIA.
The Kenyan passenger had been cleared to travel by the China Port health authorities at the Guangzhou airport,” the statement sent by KQ’s Corporate Communications department read in part.
Procedurally, all passengers are required to undergo quarantine screening by the health authorities before being cleared to board any aircraft at -the point of their origin.
“Upon being cleared, our staff notified the Kenya government port health authorities who then took precautionary measures including further screening on arrival,” KQ said in a statement.
The company said while on board, its crew, guided by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) protocols, took further precautionary measures which included isolating the passenger for the entire trip.
“A decision to quarantine the passenger was reached by the Kenya government port health authorities stationed at JKIA,” the airline said, adding that the passenger had been cleared to travel by the China port health authorities.
“We would like to reiterate that the safety and security of our passengers remains our highest priority,” said the airline.
Last week, Kariuki announced new measures to keep the country safe. She said the ministry had activated a multi-sectoral taskforce headed by Acting Health Director General Patrick Amoth to closely monitor the situation, respond to and effect guidelines recommended by WHO about the virus.
She said the government had established isolation centres at JKIA where it has enhanced screening services for in-bound travellers from countries affected by the outbreak of the mysterious Coronavirus.
At the regional level, since the EAC partner states maintain close trade relations with China where many East Africans regularly travel to and from the Asian super power, the Secretariat recommended that countries within the bloc step up disease surveillance and control measures.
“This should be done at the international airports and other points of entry to avoid the outbreak from spreading to the region.
These measures should be kept up until the outbreak is contained,” Acting Head of the EAC Secretariat’s Health Department Dr Michael Katende said in a statement.
Katende urged the partner states to screen passengers at international airports arriving from South East Asia and especially on direct flights from Wuhan for flu-like symptoms; collect detailed personal, clinical and contact information of all travellers especially those from South East Asian and watch out for anyone with a positive history of travel in the last 14 days to South East Asian countries for screening and management in case the need arises, among others.
