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Ebola scare defused as Kericho patient with related symptoms tests negative


Health Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki has confirmed that the female patient at the Kericho Referral Hospital has no Ebola-related symptoms.

The Cabinet Secretary, who was speaking to journalists on Monday during a tour of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport port of entry office, asked Kenyans to remain vigilant amid reports of Ebola in Uganda.

PRECAUTIONARY MEASURES

“The Rapid Surveillance and Response Team has examined the patient at Kericho who had travelled from Malaba town on the Kenya-Uganda Border who is in stable condition and confirms that she does not meet the case definition for Ebola,” the Ministry said via its Twitter handle.

The Ministry said precautionary measures have been put in place, including isolation of the patient and submission of blood samples to Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) for testing.

On June 11, 2019, Uganda announced that a child had been positively diagnosed with Ebola.

The Ministry of Health's press release on the status of Ebola in the country and the preventive measures taken. PHOTO | COURTESY
The Ministry of Health’s press release on the status of Ebola in the country and the preventive measures taken. PHOTO | COURTESY

EBOLA OUTBREAK

The boy and his grandmother later succumbed to the disease prompting the Ugandan government to put measures of combating the spread of the disease further.

Last year in August the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) declared its tenth outbreak of Ebola in 40 years.

The virus has killed more than 1,400 people since its outbreak – the second-deadliest in history.