Sicily Kariuki’s word on suspected Coronavirus patient quarantined at KNH

By Brian Okoth, George Kebaso and Al Jazeera

Outgoing Health minister, Sicily Kariuki, says Kenyans will know — by the end of business Wednesday — whether a patient quarantined at the Kenyatta National Hospital after exhibiting signs of Coronavirus has the infection, or not.

The patient at KNH, who arrived from Guangzhou City, is a Kenyan student, who studies in the Republic of China.

The patient, said to be in his 20s, was screened at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on arrival, and was found to have coronavirus-like symptoms.

And now, outgoing Health CS, Sicily Kariuki, has assured Kenyans that the Government is prepared to deal with any possible case(s) of Coronavirus infection(s) detected among the citizens.

Sicily Kariuki said by close of business Wednesday the Government will have declared whether the patient at KNH tested positive or negative for Coronavirus.

“We have sent two sets of sample test results outside the country for comparison. We have involved the World Health Organization,” Sicily Kariuki told journalists at the Afya House on Tuesday evening.

The minister said the patient is in a stable condition, and is quarantined in the infectious diseases isolation centre, where he is being closely observed.

“Kenyatta National Hospital and the country in general is prepared to deal with the situation. We are treating the situation as an emergency,” she said, adding: “That is why the Ministry has been able to isolate the case and conducted results immediately.”

The Acting Director General of Health, Patrick Amoth, said the Government will ensure it knows who travels into the country from China or other nations, where Coronavirus has been reported.


“Through a contact at Kenya Airways, the Ministry has been able to obtain a passenger manifest for all those who were on board the flight [that transported the patient to Kenya]. We have asked KQ to send an alert to all of them for purposes of check up on nearby hospitals,” said Amoth.

The Health Ministry, in an earlier press statement, said the patient “left Wuhan City on January 20 to Zhangjiajie City. He left for Nairobi through Guangzhou City, China and Bangkok, Thailand on January 27, and arrived at the JKIA on January 28 at 6:15am”.

“So far, this is the only suspected case [of Coronavirus],” said the Ministry of Health in their statement.

“The surveillance system remains on high alert at all points of entry and health facilities screening is being conducted to all those from affected countries,” added the MoH.

China Outbreak

The deadly new coronavirus that has broken out in China, 2019-nCoV, will afflict a minimum of tens of thousands of people and will last at least several months, researchers estimate based on the first available data.

“The best-case scenario, you would have something… where we go through the spring into the summer, and then it dies down,” David Fisman, a professor at the University of Toronto who wrote an analysis of the virus for the International Society for Infectious Diseases, told AFP.

The official number of cases is more than 4,000 in China, with more than 100 deaths, and some 50 confirmed infections outside the country.

Countries with confirmed cases of Coronavirus

Australia

Australia has confirmed five cases of the virus. The most recent was a 21-year-old woman who was on the last flight out of Wuhan to Sydney before China imposed a travel ban.

The other infections were detected in one man who arrived in Melbourne from China and three men in Sydney who had recently arrived from China and tested positive for the disease. They were being treated in isolation units in local hospitals.

Cambodia

Cambodia confirmed the first case of coronavirus in the country on January 27.

Health Minister Mam Bunheng said the patient was a 60-year-old Chinese national in the coastal city of Sihanoukville.

Canada

A man who arrived in Toronto with his wife on January 22 after visiting Wuhan has been confirmed to have the coronavirus. The couple were wearing masks on their flight from Guangzhou and took their own transport home from the airport. His wife has also tested positive for the virus.

Nineteen suspected cases being investigated by health officials are from Toronto.

China

As of January 28, at least 4,500 people have been confirmed infected across China, most of them in and around Wuhan.

At least 106 people have died, nearly all in Hubei province, but officials have confirmed four deaths elsewhere, including one in Beijing and one in Shanghai.

The Chinese government has imposed drastic curbs on travel to try and rein in the virus; it has also closed tourist sites at what is usually one of the busiest times of the year.

The city of Macau, a gambling hub hugely popular with mainland tourists, has confirmed six cases.

In Hong Kong, eight people are known to have been infected, with hundreds of suspected cases reported.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam has declared the outbreak an “emergency” – the city’s highest warning level – and cancelled all official celebrations of the Lunar New Year.

France

There are three known cases of the coronavirus in France, the first European country to be affected.

A 48-year-old man is in hospital in Bordeaux. He had recently travelled to Wuhan and returned to France via the Netherlands.

Two others, a Chinese couple in their early 30s have been hospitalised in Paris.

All three had recently travelled to China and had now been placed in isolation.

France’s health minister has said it is likely that there will be more cases and that authorities are surveying all the people that the patients have come into contact with after arriving in France.

Germany

Germany confirmed its first case of the coronavirus on January 28 in southern Bavaria.

“A man in the Starnberg region has been infected with the new coronavirus,” a spokesperson for the ministry said, adding that the patient was under surveillance in an isolation ward.

The ministry gave no further details on how the patient came to be infected but said he was in a “medically good state”.

The ministry said it considers the risk to the general population to be “low”.

Japan

On January 26, Japan’s public broadcaster NHK, citing the health ministry, said a fourth case had been confirmed in a resident of Wuhan in his 40s who was visiting Japan for a holiday.

Japan’s health authorities confirmed a third case on January 25. The country’s health ministry said a woman in her 30s who lives in Wuhan had contracted the virus.

The country’s first case was reported by the health ministry last week: a man who had visited Wuhan and was hospitalised on January 10, four days after his return to Japan.

Local media said the second patient was a man in his 40s who was originally from Wuhan and on a trip to Japan.

Malaysia

Malaysia confirmed four cases on January 25. All were Chinese nationals on holiday from Wuhan who had arrived in the country from Singapore two days earlier.

The most recently confirmed was a 40-year-old man who was being treated in hospital.

A 65-year-old woman and two boys, aged two and 11, were in a stable condition and being kept in an isolation ward at a public hospital, Malaysia’s health minister said.

They are the wife and grandchildren of a 66-year-old man who was found to be infected in Singapore.

Nepal

Nepal said a 32-year-old man arriving from Wuhan had tested positive for the deadly disease.

The patient, who was initially quarantined, recovered and was discharged. The government said surveillance has been increased at the airport “and suspicious patients entering Nepal are being monitored”.

Singapore

Singapore has five cases, all people who arrived in the city-state from Wuhan for the Lunar New Year holidays.

South Korea

The Korea Centers for Disease Control (KCDC) confirmed South Korea’s fourth case on January 27, saying that a 55-year-old South Korean man who returned from Wuhan on January 20 had tested positive for the virus.

South Korea had reported its first case, a 35-year-old woman who flew in from Wuhan, on January 20. The second case, confirmed on January 24, was a South Korean man in his 50s who returned from working in Wuhan.

On January 26, the KCDC said a 54-year-old South Korean resident of Wuhan who had arrived home on January 20 was the third to test positive for the virus.

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka confirmed its first case of coronavirus on January 27.

The patient was identified as a 43-year-old Chinese woman from Hubei who had arrived in Sri Lanka as a tourist. S he was admitted to the Infectious Diseases Hospital.

Taiwan

Taiwan has uncovered five cases so far, the latest a Taiwanese woman who had been working in Wuhan before returning home on January 20.

The island’s authorities have since advised against travel to Wuhan and Hubei province and on January 24 said any arrivals from Wuhan would be rejected by immigration.

All arrivals from the rest of China – including Hong Kong and Macau – must fill out health declaration forms on arrival.

The territory has also banned the export of face masks for a month to ensure domestic supplies.

Thailand

Thailand has detected 14 cases so far.

Sukhum Kanjanapimai, the ministry’s permanent secretary, said on Tuesday all six latest cases are Chinese tourists from Hubei province who entered Thailand several days ago. They are from Wuhan.

The new cases are two women and four men age 6 to 60. Five of the six new cases are family members. 
All six were admitted to a hospital in Nonthaburi province.

United States

The US has confirmed five cases of the virus – two in California, and one each in Arizona, Chicago and Washington state.

Vietnam

Vietnam on January 23 confirmed two cases of the virus in a man from Wuhan who travelled to Ho Chi Minh City earlier this month and passed the virus to his son.

Both were being treated in hospital and are stable, Vietnamese health officials said.