• Their samples have been taken to Kemri, Nairobi for tests.
• The chief officer cautioned the residents against unfounded speculation.
Image: MUSEMBI NZENGU
Two people with coronavirus-like symptoms are in isolation at the Kauwi Level 4 Hospital in Kitui county.
Kitui county Health chief officer Dr Richard Muthoka said the duo was suspected to have the virus because they exhibited high fever and coughing.
Muthoka told the Star Sunday that one was a 17-year-old girl who had returned to Kitui from Nairobi on Saturday with high fever and coughing.
She sought treatment at the Kitui County Referral Hospital late on Saturday evening, he said.
“The disease surveillance team suspected that the girl had coronavirus and we took her samples which were forwarded to Kemri in Nairobi for testing. We are expecting the result after 12 hours,” Muthoka said on the phone.
The chief officer said that the isolated man had been admitted with fever at the Kitui Nursing Home — a private hospital.
The medics at the facility referred him to the county referral hospital on suspicion he could be infected with the coronavirus.
“We took him in and put him at the Kauwi Level 4 Hospital isolation ward on Friday. His samples were also taken to Kemri. We are awaiting the results,” Muthoka said.
He noted that there was no cause for alarm or panic among the people of Kitui as the two isolated patients were not confirmed cases of coronavirus.
The chief officer cautioned the residents against unfounded speculation.
“We are waiting for results from Kemri and only then will we to know whether they are positive or negative,” the county health chief said.
He also called on the people of Kitui to report locals who could have visited foreign countries recently.
“We are following a case of a person who came back from Qatar and did not self-quarantine as has been ordered. We are seeking the support of the Kitui county commissioner’s office to track him down,” Muthoka said.
He further disclosed that all the Chinese nationals working for the Sino-Hydro Corporation that is tarmacking the Kibwezi-Kitui-Mwingi road who had gone into self-quarantines after returning from China are free of coronavirus.
“They are all in good health,” Muthoka said.
The Chinese workers had quarantined themselves at the Mutomo camp-site.
Their self isolation had earlier caused a scare among the residents of Mutomo.
(edited by o. owino)