The Chinese government has insisted that its residents coming into the country must quarantine themselves after their arrival to help curb the spread of Coronavirus.
Daily Nation was first to report on Thursday, February 13, that Chinese Ambassador to Kenya Wu Peng made the announcement.
"Chinese nationals returning to Kenya must quarantine themselves for a mandatory 14 days as part of the fight against coronavirus," Wu Peng announced.
To quarantine oneself is defined as staying at home and avoiding contact with others if one has developed or been exposed to an infectious disease until the infectious period of the illness is over, or until they know that they have not contracted the illness.
This is often done on instruction and supervision by a medical professional or person charged with the responsibility to ensure that movement is minimized and health precautions are undertaken.
By February 4, Peng confirmed that it had received reports of over 2,000 confirmed cases of the virus and 425 deaths in Mainland China.
Such cases, he announced, had led to the country taking strict measures to ensure that passengers leaving or arriving in the country were free of the virus.
"The embassy is continuously supervising Chinese nationals in Kenya to take strict preventive measures and report their situations, including to ensure all Chinese companies in Kenya to quarantine their employees returning from China for 14 days no matter if they have symptoms or not," the statement read.
He further reiterated that as of that date, he had received sufficient information that the virus had not spread to Kenya, and thanked the authorities for stepping in to help in combating the virus.
"The merciless virus has brought out great warmth from our fellow human beings. Many Kenyan government officials, scholars and netizens expressed their good wishes, encouragements and support to us for China's fight against the epidemic in recent days. Hereby we wish to express our sincere thanks to them all.
"China will continue to work more closely with Kenya and other countries in an open, transparent and highly responsible manner to safeguard the life and health of the Chinese people and contribute to regional and global public health security," the statement concluded.
