NAIROBI – Kenya has confirmed three more coronavirus cases, raising the number of victims to seven.
On Friday 13, Kenya confirmed the first case of the coronavirus.
The country’s Minister of Health Mutahi Kagwe said that the virus was confirmed on a female student who entered Kenya from the United States via London, United Kingdom
On Sunday, March 15, the country confirmed two more cases of Coronavirus— bringing the number of COVID-19 cases to three.
President Uhuru Kenyatta in a televised address on Sunday afternoon announced that of the 27 people who came into contact with the first confirmed patient, two had tested positive for the virus.
On Wednesday, March 18, Daily Nation reported that Mr Kagwe confirmed that three more patients had tested positive for the virus.
Two of the cases were a couple that travelled from Madrid, Spain on March 4 through Dubai, arriving in Kenya on March 5.
The third case is a Burundian national who travelled from Dubai, UAE to Kenya. He arrived on March 17 and was picked up by a surveillance team, Mr Kagwe said.
“We are tracing persons who may have been in contact with the patients,” Kagwe said.
He noted that all cases so far are imported.
The tests were done by the National Influenza Centre and the Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri).
18 patients are currently admitted at Mbagathi in Kenya. Of these, the CS said, 7 have been screened and are negative. Samples of 11 others are still being processed.
The Kenyan government is now appealing to citizens to report anyone who is not self-quarantining.
“Any Kenyan traveling into the country must sign a legal form to assure the government that you will self-quarantine,” he said.
Mr Kagwe also stressed the importance of strict hygiene in curbing spread of the pandemic.
“Washing hands and social distancing is the key why Chinese cases are coming down.”
