• Such a declaration would lead to a boost in public health measures, funding and resources to prevent and reduce international spread.
• The measures could include recommendations on trade and travel, including airport screening of passengers, which is already happening in Kenya.
Image: JOHN MUCHANGI
The Kenyan student isolated at the Kenyatta National Hospital on suspicion of having the deadly coronavirus will spend another night at the facility.
Health CS Sicily Kariuki yesterday said samples from the student were taken to South Africa to get a second opinion and the results are yet to be received.
"We are encouraging any Kenyan or any passenger who came back from China in the past two weeks to present themselves to the nearest health facility or health practitioner for assessment," Kariuki said.
She added, "I also wish to indicate that following consultations, I hereby want to wish you an advisory on behalf of the government of Kenya for those who are making travels overseas to limit to only what is considered essential travel."
The CS further noted that a decision had been reached that all those passengers disembarking at the airport be taken through screening at the point of disembarking from the plane whether or not they are coming from China or any other origin.
The World Health Organisation is expected to declare the coronavirus outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.
WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus yesterday called a meeting of experts to advise him whether he should make such a declaration.
Such a declaration would lead to a boost in public health measures, funding and resources to prevent and reduce international spread.
The measures could include recommendations on trade and travel, including airport screening of passengers, which is already happening in Kenya.
However, the WHO generally aims to avoid disruptive trade restrictions.
Further, the emphasis will remain on containing the outbreak at its source.
The declaration will also require countries to be transparent with information about the outbreak and be prepared to isolate patients who are infected.
"Most of the 6000+ new coronavirus cases are in China — just one per cent, or 68 cases, have been recorded to date in 15 other countries. But some person-to-person transmission in three other countries has been recorded. This potential for further global spread is why I called the EC," Dr Tedros said yesterday.
One of the criteria used to determine whether the coronavirus is an international health threat is whether the disease spreads locally once it arrives in new parts of the world.
The other main criterion is whether it’s already interfered or will likely interfere with trade and travel.
Yesterday, the government in Ivory Coast announced a student who was isolated in Abidjan had tested negative.
"The returned student is well and back with her family," the country's ministry of health said in a statement.
The 34-year-old student travelled from Beijing to the Félix-Houphouët-Boigny International Airport in Abidjan on Saturday and was coughing, sneezing and experienced difficulty breathing, Ivory Coast's Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene said in a statement.
The tests have taken five days.
The disease has killed 170 people and infected over 7,000 more since it was first identified in the central Chinese city of Wuhan on December 31.
In Kenya, the government has ordered everybody who arrived from China in the past two weeks to present themselves at any leading hospital for observation if they develop flu symptoms.
"Anyone showing symptoms of respiratory illness such as fever, coughing, difficulty in breathing and sneezing with a history of recent travel to China is advised to go to the nearest health facility for assessment and prompt management," Health Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki said.
Outside China, the virus has spread to several countries and cities – US (five cases), Hong Kong (eight), Thailand (14), Taiwan (eight), Australia (five), Macau (seven), Singapore (seven), Japan (seven), South Korea (four), Malaysia (seven), France (four), Canada (two), Vietnam (two), Cambodia (one), Germany (four), Sri Lanka (one) and Nepal (one), according to the Johns Hopkins University virus dashboard.
The coronavirus can survive or stay suspended in the air for hours. Like influenza, coronavirus spreads through both direct and indirect contact. Indirect contact results when an infected person coughs or sneezes, spreading coronavirus droplets on nearby surfaces, including knobs, bedrails and smartphones.
The coronavirus outbreak came to prominence on January 9 following the death of a 61-year old man who had exhibited symptoms similar to the common cold and the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).