Kenya reassures public after Ebola false alarm

A port health officials wearing a mask works at the arrival terminal are screened by port health service, at the Jommo Kenyatta International airport in Nairobi on June 17, 2019. (AFP)
Updated 17 June 2019
Follow

Kenya reassures public after Ebola false alarm

  • Kariuki spelt out a list of preventive measures that Kenya had already taken

NAIROBI: Kenya sought to reassure the public and foreign visitors on Monday after a suspected Ebola case, which turned out to be negative, was detected near the border with Uganda.

Uganda last week reported three cases of Ebola, two of them fatal, among people who had been to neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where an epidemic has been underway since last August.

Kenyan Health Minister Sicily Kariuki said a 36-year-old woman in the western county of Kericho had fallen ill with headache, fever and vomiting, which can also be symptoms of Ebola.

Further examination found she did not have the disease, Kariuki said at a press conference staged at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

“The Rapid Surveillance and Response Team has examined the patient, who is in stable condition, and has confirmed that she does not meet the case definition for Ebola,” she said.

“I wish to reassure all Kenyans and our visitors that we do not have any cases of Ebola.”

The Ugandan cases were confirmed in a town that is more than 600 km from the border with Kenya.

Kariuki spelt out a list of preventive measures that Kenya had already taken.

They included the installation of thermal cameras at entry points to detect people with high temperatures, as well as isolation units to host suspected cases. More than 250 Health Ministry workers have been deployed at entry points as part of this strategy.

The minister called on the public to be vigilant, urging anyone with Ebola-like symptoms who had traveled to affected countries to go to the nearest hospital.


Seven killed in India medical plane crash

Updated 2 sec ago
Follow

Seven killed in India medical plane crash

MUMBAI: Seven people were killed when a chartered air ambulance crashed in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand, officials said Tuesday.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said the Beechcraft C90 operating a “medical evacuation (Air Ambulance) flight” crashed Monday in the Kasaria area of the eastern state of Jharkahand.
Rescue and medical teams rushed to the site of the crash, which local media said was deep inside a difficult-to-access forest.
“The team of doctors found them, and declared them dead,” local administrative official Keerthishree G told reporters, adding that two of the seven people killed were crew members.
The DGCA said late Monday night that the aircraft, operated by Redbird Airways, had “requested for deviation due to weather” and lost contact with air traffic radar after 23 minutes.
India’s aircraft accident investigation bureau had also been sent to the site.
In January, a state leader from the western Maharashtra state and four others were killed when their chartered aircraft crashed while landing at the city of Baramati.