• Kenya receives at least four flights from China on a daily basis.
• Several measures have been put in place to counter the disease
Image: MAGDALINE SAYA
Several measures have been put in place to counter the outbreak of coronavirus in China, Health CS Sicily Kariuki has said.
“I can confirm we are safe and there has been no case of coronavirus. Our hospitals are well equipped and ready to handle this virus,” Kariuki said Thursday.
The CS reaffirmed that the ministry has enhanced screening and surveillance at the JKIA which is a key aviation hub in the region.
Coronaviruses typically affect the respiratory tract of mammals including humans and are associated with common cold, pneumonia and acute respiratory syndrome.
Symptoms include fever, coughing and difficulty breathing. The viral infection can cause pneumonia and can be passed from person to person.
The virus is believed to have originated in a seafood market in December in the central Chinese city of Wuhan that was illegally selling wildlife.
It has since spread to Chinese cities including Beijing and Shanghai, as well as the United States, Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Australia, France and Canada.
“We have activated our national task force that is now receiving updates from the Wealth Health Organization in Geneva on how best we can respond, to safeguard the Kenyan people,” Kariuki said.
According to the acting director general at the Ministry of Health Patrick Amoth, Kenya receives at least four flights from China on a daily basis.
We have started screening for all passengers coming from China as we wait for the WHO to give us the way forward,” Amoth said.
Already, an alert had been sent to all the 47 counties through the Council of Governors and the county directors of health.
The WHO has issued control measures to be taken to reduce the risks of coronavirus infection.
“While the cause of pneumonia seems to be a novel coronavirus, transmission potential and modes of transmission remain unclear,” the global UN agency said.
Some of the measures include cleaning hands with soap or an alcohol-based hand rub after sneezing or coughing, when caring for the sick, before, during and after preparing food and before eating.
Others are washing hand after using the toilet, when hands are dirty and after handling animals alive or dead or animal waste.
“Cover your and mouth when coughing and sneezing with a tissue of flexed elbow. Avoid close contact with anyone with cold or flu-like symptoms,” WHO says.
So far, more than 2,000 people have been infected with the coronavirus, the vast majority in China where 56 people have died from it.
The United States which confirmed a second case of the virus.
According to the Centre for Disease Control and Protection, coronaviruses are common in many different species of animals, including camels and bats.
Rarely, these coronaviruses can evolve and infect humans and then spread between humans.
China on Sunday announced a nationwide ban on the sale of wildlife in markets, restaurants, and e-commerce platforms.
Wild and often poached animals packed together in Chinese markets are blamed as incubators for viruses to evolve and jump the species barrier to humans.
Snakes, peacocks, crocodiles and other species can also be found for sale via Taobao, an e-commerce website run by Alibaba.
The WHO last week stopped short of calling the outbreak a global health emergency, but some health experts question whether China can continue to contain the epidemic.