Kenya’s citizen will not be evacuated from China, even as the coronavirus effect continues to bite parts of the Asian country.
Speaking to a local news outlet, Kenya’s Ambassador to China Sarah Serem, has noted that China has already put measures to control the outbreak.
“I prefer the Chinese government to handle the coronavirus since they are in a better position to deal with it. I don’t think Kenya is ready to deal with the virus. By bringing Kenyans back, it will only expose the rest to the danger of infection,” Ms Serem told Citizen TV in an interview.
Meanwhile Kenya’s National Carrier, Kenya Airways has said that it will not cancel its flights to Guangzhou.
The national carrier has said that it is closely ‘monitoring’ the situation before it takes the next step. Ambassador Sarah Serem had however called upon the carrier to suspend its flights to the country until the virus is contained. This comes after a student from Guangzhou on Tuesday was quarantined at the Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi over the suspected deadly virus.
The Kenyan government has however issued a travel advisory against travel to China. There are currently over one million Chinese nationals living in Africa, according to data from Annual Report on Overseas Chinese.
African countries continue to operate flights to China despite the threat. Several African countries have direct flights to the Asian country including Ethiopian Airlines, Egyptair, which announced its flights to the country last year.
By the 22nd, Chinese authorities had presented new epidemiological information that revealed an increase in the number of cases, of suspected cases, of affected provinces, and the proportion of deaths in currently reported cases of 4% (17 of 557). They reported fourth-generation cases in Wuhan and second-generation cases outside Wuhan, as well as some clusters outside Hubei province.
According to Chinese health authorities, by 27th January 2020, 2,858 confirmed cases of pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) have been reported. The pneumonia situation has resulted in a total of 82 deaths, while 57 people have recovered.
CNN has reported that hundreds of Americans returning from the epicenter of the deadly coronavirus outbreak arrive in California and now face an uncertain period of quarantine and monitoring.
The Chinese Embassy in Kenya however said it is closely monitoring with the Chinese Community the entry of Chinese into Kenya.
“The Chinese side always puts the life and health of the Chinese citizens and foreigners including Kenyans in China above everything else, and will continue to take effective and timely measures to address their legitimate concerns,” the statement from Chinese embassy in Kenya reads.
To further contain the coronavirus epidemic, China says it has taken all-around strict measures including transport restrictions, extending the Spring Festival holiday, postponing school openings, cancellations of gatherings, temporary closures of public venues, personnel tracking and management, temperature detection at subway and railway stations, airports, etc. Passengers with abnormal body temperatures will be sent to the hospital.
Meanwhile, African governments have been grappling with disease outbreak scares even as the Ebola crisis continues to bite in Guinea and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
In October last year, the World Health Organization (WHO) called out Tanzania for failing to provide information about possible Ebola virus infections. According to a report by BBC, WHO said it had learned of one suspected fatal case in Dar es Salaam and two others but, despite repeated requests, was given no information.
The latest outbreak has killed more than 2,000 in eastern DR Congo, with Uganda battling to stop any spread.
