BREAKING NEWS: Kenya records first case of coronavirus, Uganda should be more prepared .

BY NANAGYI GUYSON

 


Kampala, Uganda- Kenyan Ministry of health, Mutahi Kagwe,  has confirmed the first coronavirus case in the country.

One Kenyan citizen who was returning from the US to Nairobi via London on 5th March tested positive for coronavirus COVID-19 and has been put in quarantine though the patient is stable.

Kenya now joins other African countries which  World Health Organization, has confirmed they have been hit by the COVID-19 virus.

• Algeria -- 20
• Burkina Faso -- 2
• Cameroon -- 2
• Democratic Republic of Congo --1
• Egypt -- 59 (includes 1 death)
• Morocco -- 3 (includes 1 death)
• Nigeria -- 2
• Senegal -- 4
• South Africa -- 13
• Tunisia -- 5
• Togo -- 1

Uganda has banned visitors travelling from some 'highly hit' countries, including the US, China, France, Germany, Iran, Italy, South Korea and Spain.

The  country's health minister Jane Ruth Aceng said in a statement on Monday that ."Government has decided to ask travellers from the affected countries not to come to Uganda because the high cases they are reporting can easily be imported into the country,"

Aceng said those who insist on visiting the East Africa nation from these countries would have to self-isolate at their own cost for 14 days either in their home or at a government facility. Ugandans in affected countries are not exempted from the travel ban.

One  MP, Anthony Akol was ejected from parliament and forced to self-quarantine after travelling to South Africa and South Korea, countries that have registered several cases of coronavirus outbreak. 
 

Uganda also postponed the 2020 United Nations G77 and China Summit scheduled for mid-April in the Ugandan capital of Kampala, where more than 6,000 delegates from 136 member states were expected to attend due to the coronavirus threat.