Traveller from Nigeria being tested for Ebola
What you need to know:
- Health CS James Macharia said the traveller was admitted soon after he arrived.
- The Ebola outbreak has affected six countries in Africa.
A traveller from Nigeria isolated at the Nairobi Hospital since Saturday is undergoing tests for the Ebola virus.
Health Cabinet Secretary James Macharia told the Nation on Monday that the traveller was admitted to the hospital soon after he arrived at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi, on Saturday.
“The results of the first sample from the traveller tested negative for Ebola. However, since the traveller came from a country currently affected by the outbreak, a second confirmatory test is being carried out at the Kenya Medical Research Institute and the results will be known in the next 72 hours,” Mr Macharia said.
The Ebola outbreak has affected six countries in Africa; Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Senegal. By September 6, some 4,315 people had been infected. The disease has killed 2,305 (53 per cent of those infected).
EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS
Last month, the minister announced that Kenya’s decision to temporarily block entry to all passengers from and through the three West African countries affected by Ebola.
Mr Macharia will on Tuesday open an East African Regional High-Level Multi-Sectoral meeting.
The forum, to be held at Kenyatta International Convention Centre in Nairobi is for ministers of Health, Transport, East African Community Affairs and Immigration on emergency preparedness and response to the Ebola virus.
The two-day meeting will bring together representatives and ministers from Burundi, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, DRC, South Sudan and Ethiopia.
Elsewhere, the African Union has been asked to urgently develop an action plan to respond to Ebola.
The call is in a letter addressed to the AU Executive Council by the Aids Healthcare Foundation, a global health organisation.
