It may take longer for Kenya to have preliminary results of a patient suspected to be having flu-like coronavirus.
Health experts Wednesday said that there is no capacity locally to carry out the test for the virus that is spreading around the world from China, mainly because it is a new virus and the specific test kits for it have not been setup.
The Ministry of Health on Tuesday reported that samples had been taken to South Africa national virology centre but the Nation has since established that the country is not accepting samples outside its borders. This is because the virus is perceived to be highly contagious and infectious control mechanisms to properly handle it during transportation are not yet known.
Dr Ahmed Kalebi the, chief executive officer and chief consultant pathologist at Lancet Group of Laboratories—East Africa, said that while Kenya may have the capacity to handle the situation, it will still look for help outside to establish whether the patient has the virus or not.
“Not even Lancet South Africa or any of the labs there have set up to do the test because it is a new virus but I think the National Institute of Virology in South Africa has started doing the test this week.
“While the Kenya Medical Research Institute may have the capacity to investigate, this is a totally new virus and will take longer to set up the testing services and so we might have to wait for up to 96 hours for the results,” he said.
The test required is a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) molecular test to detect active infection and serology antibody test to check for previous recent exposure, both requiring specific kits.
The ministry has remained tight lipped over the status of the patient, however, a doctor at Kenyatta National Hospital, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the patient is in stable condition
“South Africa would be right not to accept the sample because no one knows how to handle the sample,” Dr Kalebi said.
The worsening outbreak of the little known strain of coronaviruses has sent health officials across the world scrambling as countries remain on high alert.
There are now fever checks at airports and other ports of entry in most countries as experts fear that the situation may worsen before it gets better.
With the death toll and number of new infections rising, Japan and the US have started evacuating hundreds of their citizens from Wuhan, the city at the centre of the epidemic.
Officials from the Department of Disease Surveillance and Response yesterday visited the student, said to be in his 20s, at KNH’s Infectious Disease Unit (IDU) where he is currently in isolation to monitor and determine his condition.
The officials collected samples from the patient and were taken to the National Influenza Centre for testing. It is, however, not clear when preliminary results will be out.
According to the Health ministry, the traveller left Wuhan City on Monday last week to Zhangjiajie City.
A week later (January 27) he left for Nairobi through Guangzhou and Bangkok, Thailand and arrived at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) on Tuesday at 6:15am.
Health officials say that the number of infections and the death toll have risen. Chinese officials confirmed yesterday that the number of people infected by the new form of coronavirus in the country had reached 5,974, however, the World Health Organisation maintains the number at 4,593 people infected and 106 people dead so far.
Meanwhile, Kenya Airways (KQ) has said it will not suspend its flights to China following the outbreak of the deadly coronavirus.
British Airways has, however, suspended all direct flights to China after their government urged Britons not to travel to the country in response to coronavirus.
All flights have been suspended until February 3, with the airline’s website showing no direct flights to either Shanghai or Beijing available until March.
A spokesperson for British Airways said the airline is “urgently assessing the situation.”
The spokeswoman said: “We have suspended all flights to and from mainland China with immediate effect following advice from the Foreign Office against all but essential travel.”
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