• The woman from Likoni constituency arrived in the country on January 30 at around 6 am from China.
• She is a medical student at a university in Guangzhou.
Image: JOHN MUCHANGI
A 22-year-old woman has been put in isolation at the Mombasa Hospital after exhibiting symptoms of the deadly coronavirus.
The woman from Likoni constituency arrived in the country on January 30 at around 6 am from China.
She is a medical student at a university in Guangzhou.
According to doctors at the hospital, she started feeling unwell while in China.
"She complained of chest pains and difficulty in breathing," said a doctor who requested anonymity as they are not allowed to speak to the press.
Mombasa County director of communication Richard Chacha said the county has ordered she be put in strict isolation.
"We are not taking any chances," Chacha said.
She is currently isolated at a private room at Rehemtullah ward.
Blood samples taken from her have been sent to the Nairobi for screening and further analysis.
However, the County's Health Chief Officer Dr Khadija Shikely ruled out that the patient had the coronavirus and warned Kenyans against spreading rumours about the coronavirus.
"She is strictly isolated and not even family members are allowed to visit her except the Doctor and nurses assigned to her. She is stable but we can not take chances until we get results from Nairobi tomorrow," she said.
The incident comes just days after another Kenyan student who had been quarantined at Kenyatta National Hospital was discharged after he tested negative of the dreaded coronavirus.
The tests showed he was only suffering from a simple common cold.
The 22-year-old student was isolated for four days, being attended to by mask-wearing medics. He was not allowed to mingle with the public.
"The laboratory results which we received on 28th January 2019 from the National Influenza Centre and 30th January 2020 from South Africa revealed that the person under investigation does not have the novel Corona Virus 2019 disease but usual common cold," Health Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki said on Friday.