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The County Director of Health, Dr George Karoki (right) with the County Nursing Officer, Mary Muriithi, and one of the nurses that will be manning the Kerugoya County Referral Hospital isolation ward. [Joseph Muchiri, Standard]
The government has confirmed one more case of coronavirus, bringing the number of patients reported in the country so far to four.
Additionally, 48 people initially suspected to have contracted the virus have tested negative, and have been allowed to go home to continue with self-quarantine.
The patient whose case is the latest to be confirmed had travelled from London on March 8, arriving in the country on March 9.
According to Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe, the fourth coronavirus case was confirmed following tests in a private medical facility in Nairobi.
“The latest case was confirmed today at our National Influenza Centre Laboratory. Tracing of persons who might have come into contact with the patient is ongoing,” he said.
The first case of coronavirus was reported on Friday, March 13, 2020. It involved a 27-year-old Kenyan woman who lived in the US and travelled back to Kenya through London, arriving on March 5, 2020.
First case
From the first coronavirus case, the government traced 27 other people who came into contact with the woman, two of whom turned positive.
The two travelled with the woman in the same plane.
“Results of the rest of the 25 and additional 23 other persons who have been tested have all turned negative. We have cleared them to self-quarantine at home,” said Kagwe.
The 23 cleared persons had been quarantined at the Mbagathi Hospital.
According to the Health CS, 36 contacts of the other two patients who tested positive have been traced and will be quarantined and tested.
So far, the National Influenza Centre Laboratory and Kenya Medical Research Institute have conducted 111 coronavirus tests.
According to the CS, so far there is no cause for alarm.
“We have not seen a spike in the number of cases like other countries. The advantage we have at the moment is that those who have tested positive are healthy and are being monitored,” he said.
Kagwe said President Uhuru Kenyatta's directive and the invocation of the Public Health Act has made quarantining of all potential coronavirus cases compulsory.
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