Six Chinese nationals working for the Sinohydro Corporation contracted to build the Kibwezi-Kitui Highway have been quarantined for another week within the company’s camp in Mutomo, Kitui south after the expiry of the mandatory 14 days before resuming duties.
“Zhang Qiang, who was the first to jet back into the country, had travelled from Beijing via Dubai to JKIA where he recorded a body temperature of 36.6 degrees Celsius and the county health surveillance team that visited the company site Monday recorded his temperature at 35.9 Degrees Celsius,” said County Chief Officer in-charge of Health and Sanitation, Dr. Richard Muthoka.
Speaking in Mutomo on Tuesday, Dr. Muthoka said that the county disease surveillance team will continue to monitor the quarantined Chinese nationals to ensure they do not have the coronavirus.
He said that the medical team has also ruled this was normal sickness, thus there was no cause for alarm for any suspected case of coronavirus in the county.
“We have examined the quarantined staff to detect any possible traces of the virus, they are not symptomatic according to their assessment though the isolated individuals will continue to be monitored until the end of the 21 days,” he said.
The Chief Officer further indicated that the ministry of health had dispatched a team of experts from Nairobi to complement his team in handling the situation so as to prevent mass panic or possible outbreak of the viral disease.
The Sinohydro Corporation Chief Engineer, Zeng Yun dismissed as falsehoods earlier media reports that the worker had been isolated after developing symptoms of the coronavirus.
On February 13, Chinese Ambassador to Kenya, Wu Peng said that the embassy would continue monitoring the entry of Chinese nationals into Kenya and had instructed them to strictly adhere to the prevention and control measures.
“The Embassy has required all Chinese nationals coming back from China to isolate themselves at home for 14 days even if they have no symptoms,” said Yun.
The new coronavirus was only discovered in December 2019 in Wuhan China and Kenya had been identified as one of the 13 top priority countries in the region, which due to their direct links or high volume of travel to China needs to be particularly vigilant against the severe disease.
By Yobesh Onwong’a
