State tracking 85 thought to have met with patient

Mercy Mwai @wangumarci

The government is tracking 85 people suspected to have made contact with a woman who tested positive for the coronavirus as the number of confirmed cases in the country rose to seven.

Giving a media update on the state of the virus in Kenya yesterday, Health CS Mutahi Kagwe said three more people had tested positive while 18 others are admitted at the Mbagathi Hospital in Nairobi where they are undergoing tests.

“We have received confirmation of another three cases of the disease following tests that were carried out at the National Influenza Centre and Kemri laboratories, respectively, bringing the total number of cases to seven. All these have been imported cases from outside the country,” the minister said.

People sought

The 85 people being sought are thought to have interacted with the woman who tested positive for the virus after she was taken back to the isolation centre at Mbagathi Hospital having allegedly left the facility without permission.

Acting director general in the Health ministry Patrick Amoth said they tracked the patient with the help of security personnel and were able to deliver her back to the hospital.

“Through our security team, we were able to track her and brought her back to the facility. She has since tested positive.

We have established her contacts and, as at now, we are tracking down 85 of her contacts and will give a brief on the results,” Amoth said.

The move comes after a 23-year-old woman, who had been allowed to leave the hospital, was re-admitted after she developed flu symptoms on Sunday night.

The woman said she took herself to the hospital after efforts to call the coronavirus hotlines failed.

Yesterday, the minister said the new cases include a couple aged 44 and 45 years who had travelled from Madrid, Spain, through Dubai on March 4 and arrived in the country the following day, while the other was  a 27-year-old Burundian national who flew into Kenya from Dubai on March 17.

Tested positive

The Burundian tested positive after he was found to be having high temperature during routine screening by the surveillance team at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

The couple from Spain took themselves to the Aga Khan Hospital, Nairobi, after one of them recorded high temperatures.

Addressing the news conference at the ministry headquarters, Kagwe said seven out of the 18 cases admitted at Mbagathi Hospital had been screened and found to be negative.

They are currently being processed for discharge to continue with self-quarantine at home under the supervision of the ministry and county surveillance team.

The remaining 11, he said, are currently being tested at the National Influenza Centre and the Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri) laboratories. 

Kagwe said the ministry is in the process of tracing people who may have come into contact with the latest confirmed cases even as he made it clear that all persons entering Kenyan will be required to sign a legal form at the point of entry to give the government powers to prosecute them should they fail to self-quarantine.

The minister said it was evident that all the cases confirmed locally had been brought in by people coming into the country and thus emphasised the need for them to take adequate measures to prevent the spread of the virus.

“Let me remind such people who refuse to self-quarantine themselves that it is an offence to violate the self-quarantine rules as they will be arrested and charged in a court of law.

So far our laboratories at the National Influenza Centre and Kemri have tested a total of 1,232 cases since this pandemic struck in the country,” he said.

Responding to a question whether the government was considering imposing a total lockdown over the virus, the minister said authorities were waiting for an advisory from a team of experts who have been carrying out modelling and assessing the situation to advice the National Emergency Response Committee which he chairs before such a decision can be considered.

Emergency committee

“We will come to that point when the National Emergency response committee seats and assesses the situation. As of now let’s adhere to the measures that we have put in place.”

And to improve the country’s preparedness, Kagwe said Kenya and 20 other African countries held a video conferencing with doctors from Wuhan, the city in China where the virus first broke.

He said: “Today we made a major milestone; our doctors were able to do video conference with doctors from Wuhan.”

Dr Amoth said that all the three new patients were in a stable condition and recovering well.

Meanwhile, there was confusion yesterday after it emerged that a patient who exhibited coronavirus symptoms is said to have been admitted at the general female ward at the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH).

The patient who took herself to the hospital on Tuesday was admitted without any tests being conducted on her and was only tested for the virus yesterday morning.

When contacted by People Daily, KNH top management said it had commenced investigations to establish how the patient was admitted without undergoing any test yet she had the symptoms.

KNH chief Executive Evanson Kamuri and the Head of communication Hezekiah Gikambi confirmed that such a patient had been admitted at the hospital and at the same time, taken to Mbagathi hospital for isolation but later brought back.

Kamuri confirmed that the test had been done at the National Influenza Centre which turned negative.

 “The patient had no coronavirus, it was only that the person who saw the patient first thought she had corona virus.

We already had the tests but you know even without corona there are other patients who would be coughing and not necessary have corona. We already had the tested her and it was negative,” said Kamuri.

He added: “Right now I think the patient is already in the ward, she has been brought back to KNH, we confirmed that she had no corona that is the fact. She was brought this morning back to KNH.”

Gikambi on the other hand said that the hospital management had commenced investigations and will be able to give its position on the issue today.

“If you are asking about specifics of the patient, patient’s privacy is very keen we do not divulge such details, but as of now we are investigating about this specific case and we will be communicating.

On the ward and the time of admission, all these is what we will be investigating about, I have even discussed with the team on the ground there is a serious investigations going on,” he said.