• Spokesman Cyrus Oguna says the woman in the video making the rounds on social has no connection with the patient announced by CS Mutahi Kagwe.
• In the video, the woman says she travelled to Kenya and went to Kitale to see her parents.
Image: COURTESY
The government has dismissed claims that a woman in a viral video denying being diagnosed with coronavirus is the person it announced on Friday as having contracted the deadly virus.
On Friday, Health CS Mutahi Kagwe confirmed the first case of coronavirus in the country after a 27-year-old female student who arrived on March 5 from the US via London tested positive.
The woman in the video making the rounds on social media insinuates that she is the one referred to by the government and dismisses claims that she contracted the virus. Also in the video is a child and a man, who, the woman says, has been chauffeuring them around since their arrival. She says she travelled to Kenya and went to Kitale to see her parents. She, however, does not say her name or the country she travelled from.
"I'm just here to say something. I don’t have any coronavirus. I'm okay. This is my baby here [kisses the child to show they don’t have the virus]. So this is only propaganda," she says.
"We went to Kitale, Eldoret, Keiyo back to Kitale and flew to Nairobi via Safarilink. We don’t have corona, we were screened on arrival. We were tested and we are good."
Fighting FAKE NEWS:
— Lord Abraham M. Mutai (@ItsMutai) March 14, 2020
I have looked everywhere. I can't find where an official report was given of her being the #covid19kenya patient. Her name and story is all over since yesterday leading to everyone to believe it is her but no official report on her. @MOH_Kenya should clarify pic.twitter.com/tYj7V1hDB5
But Government Spokesman Cyrus Oguna on Saturday said the woman has no connection with the patient announced by the Ministry of Health.
"How is this connected with the case that we were talking about yesterday? This is somebody amefanya tu vitu zake yeye mwenyewe, ata hajasema jina (This is someone doing her own things. She has not even revealed her name)," he told the Star on the phone.
Oguna said the government cannot make up things, especially over an issue of grave concern. The virus has killed more than 4,500 people and infected about 130,000 across the globe.
"Honestly, why should the government lie on something like this? Think about it. Why should the government lie?” he posed.
Oguna urged Kenyans to avoid speculations. He said the woman does not mention or link the government to her case, and instead, some Kenyans are hellbent on linking her to the patient announced by the government.
“Hajasema anaitwa nani, hajataja serikali, (She has neither said her name nor mentioned the government)... If we are to take action, tutatesema amefanya nini? (What shall we say she has done?). We can’t take action because there's nothing she has said that puts the government into disrepute," Oguna said.
(Edited by F'Orieny)