Blood samples test negative for virus as kin kept waiting for hours
Beds at the isolation unit. PHOTO | JENNIFER MUIRURI |
What you need to know:
- Three people who were expected to arrive with the nine were not aboard the Brussels Airlines flight.
- The Ministry of Health will make a follow-up with their Foreign Affairs counterparts to track the remaining Kenyans in Liberia.
Ten Kenyans who arrived from Liberia have tested negative for Ebola and Marburg fever viruses.
The six adults and four children had lived in the West African country for between one and seven years, Health Cabinet Secretary James Macharia said on Wednesday.
The 10 landed at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi on Tuesday where their blood samples were taken to Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri) for tests. After five hours, the lab announced that they did not have the viruses.
Two others were expected to arrive in the same Brussels Airlines flight but were not on board.
Mr Macharia said in a statement: “All the returnees were screened for Ebola and temporarily quarantined at the airport overnight. However, none of them had fever or any exposure to an Ebola patient.”
The Cabinet Secretary said the Ministry of Health had the contact details of the 10 and would check on them daily for the next 21 days — the incubation period of Ebola.
“The families have also been given information on symptoms and signs of Ebola and have been requested to report immediately should they start feeling unwell…
“At the same time, the returnees have further been advised to self-quarantine at home,” said the minister.
The ministry will make a follow-up with its Foreign Affairs counterpart to track the remaining Kenyans in Liberia.
In spite of the short quarantine at the airport, the Kenyans were not short of relatives to welcome them home.
Although they were not allowed to see each other on Tuesday night, dozens of friends and family waited for them at the airport’s lobby.
The relatives confronted health officials as they left the airport.
They complained that they had not been allowed into the holding area to have a glimpse of their relatives, some of whom had been away for up to seven years.
FOUR YEARS
Ms Edith Njambi Thuo, mother of Mr Charles Thuo, who arrived with his wife, two children and a househelp, said she was longing to see her son who had been away for four years.
“We were hoping to see him, but now we will have to wait here for six hours until morning. But at least we have spoken over the phone and I am very happy he is back,” she said.
Ms Ann Masila, whose sister Esther was also on the flight from Monrovia, said she could not wait to see her and hug her, after the seven years she had been out of the country and away from the family.
