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Kenya’s Ambassador to China asks for prayers for Kenyans in Wuhan city

By Amina Wako February 17th, 2020 1 min read

Kenya’s Ambassador to China, Sarah Serem, has expressed fear over the lives of Kenyan students trapped in Wuhan city where the Coronavirus infection started.

Serem said more than 100 students are trapped in the city and are unable to come out over health risks associated with the virus that has so far claimed the lives of 1,776 people.

Speaking to Citizen TV on Monday, the ambassador asked Kenyans to pray for the students.

“Going through the daily updates on the impact of Coronavirus pandemic, reading the number of infections, number of deaths, those in critical condition and in Wuhan where I have close to a 100 students, sends a chill down my spine,” said Serem.

The Covid-19 was discovered in China’s city of Wuhan in late December 2019 and has so far infected 71,337. According to statics from Wolrdometer 11,147 people have recovered from the deadly virus.

President Uhuru Kenyatta had on February 6, 2020, while in the US, said the government had plans to evacuate Kenyans stuck in Wuhan city.

However, barely a day later, Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary, Macharia Kamau, and former Health Cabinet Secretary, Sicily Kariuki, said Kenyan students in China were safe, and ruled out the possibility of evacuating them.

Last week the Ministry of Health announced that the country had two new testing facilities to test the Coronavirus.

Laboratories at the National Influenza Centre hosted at the National Public Health Laboratories and Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri) will begin testing samples, Acting Director-General of Health Patrick Amoth said.

Previously, the country was sending samples to South Africa for testing.