Kenyatta National Hospital

NAIROBI, KENYA MARCH 7,2020 — Kenya, on Friday issued a temporary ban on meetings, conferences and international events that involves attendees from countries affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19). The announcement comes in the wake of the deadly virus making inroads in a handful of countries in Africa.

The ban, which included a temporary ban lifting on flights from Italy, will see the government allow flights from Italy to Kenya, with no passengers and will jet into the country to evacuate Italian citizens.

“As a government, we are only doing a temporary lift on Italian flights to Kenya, but only to evacuate Italian citizens from the country. The flight(s) will only contain their cabin crew, who will not be allowed to disembark while the passengers are being picked,” Mutahi Kagwe, the country’s Health Ministry Cabinet Secretary told a press conference in the capital, Nairobi.

The cabinet secretary said this when he launched a newly completed Kenyatta National Hospital isolation center and the infectious disease unit for coronavirus, located at the city’s Mbagathi Hospital as part of efforts to contain the virus should it be positively reported.

Although the East African nation, despite having investigated 23 alerts involving 31 suspected cases that have tested negative for Covid-19, with two of recently investigated cases being in the capital, Nairobi, continues to assure its citizens that proper measures have been put in place.

Kenya is boasting of having set up over 100 hospital beds in public hospitals to handle patients in case of positively identified cases. China built two coronavirus hospitals in over a week, with a 1,600-bed capacity.

“Our government tells us the country is ready to fight coronavirus in case there is an outbreak while at the same time allowed flights from China which is the origin of this threat. Our government should not gamble with our lives,” Joseph Omolo, a resident of Kibera, Africa’s largest slum located in Nairobi told Ubuntu Times in an interview.

Togo is the latest African nation to have reported a positive case of coronavirus, adding to the list of African countries affected so far standing at eight, other countries being Egypt, Algeria, Nigeria, Senegal, Tunisia, South Africa, and Cameroon.

In February, there was an uproar when a Chinese plane carrying 239 passengers touched down at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA). The government demystified fears, telling its citizens that the passengers were safe having been scanned from their country of origin and that they would be put on self-quarantine for 14 days.

Following the uproar, a high court in Kenya issued temporary orders suspending all flights from China, after the Law Society of Kenya moved to court seeking orders to bar the government from allowing planes from China flying into Kenya.

The World Health Organization (WHO) indicated that as of 5th March 2020, 95,333 coronavirus cases had been reported globally, and a bigger percentage of the 3,282 death cases coming from mainland China.

Among other measures the Kenyan government has taken include having a diagnostic capacity at the National Influenza Centre and Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) laboratories to test suspected cases of COVID-19.

“We are ensuring proper and mandatory screening at all points of entry to minimize the risk of importation of the virus from affected countries,” said Kagwe, the health minister, procuring an additional 5,000 personal protective equipment with the support of United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

A United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) report titled ‘Impact of Coronavirus Outbreak on Global Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)’ says the epidemic will exert downward pressure on FDI.

“The impact on FDI will be concentrated in those countries that are most severely hit by the epidemic, although negative demand shocks and the economic impact of supply chain disruptions will affect investment prospects in other countries,” says the report.

With African countries having health systems that are overwhelmed by various disease outbreaks, WHO has called on the continent’s governments to ensure it invests in early detection for efficient control of the epidemic spreading once it hits.

Outside of China, Italy is one of the worst-hit from the coronavirus epidemic with a toll of over 100 deaths. This led to Kenya banning all flights from Italy to Kenya as a possible measure to avoid threats.

Esther Lusaka, 35-year-old mother of four, a resident of Nairobi told Ubuntu Times in an interview that most of the women, like her who have been seeking medication at Mbagathi Hospital where the isolation center has been set up will tend to keep off the facility.

“We are used to theatrics in Kenyan government especially in the health ministry where officials gamble with Kenyans’ lives. How sure are we that the facility will handle the outbreak if there will be, and have normal patients seek medication at the same public hospital?” she wondered.

Ethiopia, Africa’s major airline gateway with its national airline operating 34 flights from China has strengthened its surveillance, diagnostic and medical care as well as public health information in readiness for a potential outbreak.