Health CS Mutahi Kagwe has asked parents of newborns to
discourage unnecessary visits from relatives and friends.
Speaking during a press briefing at Afya House on Thursday,
the CS said such visits might lead to the infection of babies with Coronavirus.
“If you are a young father do not encourage any visitors.
Let them stay in their houses for a change.
“They can come back when your baby has grown. For the time
being let them stay where they are,” said Kagwe.
It has emerged that a prominent politician in Nairobi has
tested positive for the virus and is currently admitted in hospital.
18 contacts believed to have interacted with the patient
were traced and nine tested positive.
Out of this number, two are the politician’s grandchildren.
So far, around 40 children below nine years have tested
positive for COVID-19 and a 6-year-old boy succumbed to the virus.
As the virus continues to spread, infected persons are
increasingly exhibiting new, less typical, non-respiratory symptoms, like
sudden strokes in young people & multi-system inflammatory symptoms, with
features similar to Kawasaki Disease & toxic shock syndrome in children.
According to the Ministry of Health, these cases have
largely been confined to the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain and the
United States, and have so far not been seen in Kenya.
Beyond this, there is a growing number of patients exhibiting non-typical flu-like symptoms, such as gastro-intestinal distress syndrome that leads to loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, delirium and chickenpox-like lesions.