Doctors based in Wuhan, China, on Wednesday, March 18, came to the aid of Kenya in the fight against the coronavirus outbreak.
Health CS Mutahi Kagwe, announced that the government had for the first time been able to work hand in hand with doctors from Wuhan, with the help of Huawei Technologies, as it battles to contain the spread of the deadly virus.
"Today for the first time, via a video conferencing capacity we have just installed today, our doctors were able to talk one to one with the Chinese doctors who have been handling the Wuhan outbreak,"
"This is an extremely important step in terms of knowledge share. They gave us a tremendous amount of knowledge which we believe will go a long way in helping our people," Kagwe stated in a press conference.
It has been argued that China’s extreme lockdowns were responsible for bringing the crisis there under control.
In mid-January, the Chinese government introduced unprecedented measures to contain the virus which included stopping movement in and out of Wuhan (the centre of the epidemic), and 15 other cities in Hubei province (home to more than 60 million people).
Flights and trains were suspended, with roads blocked across entire provinces in a bid to curb transmission of the deadly virus via person-to-person contact.
It is estimated that 760 million people -roughly half the country’s population, were confined to their homes.
In a report released late February, the World Health Organization (WHO) congratulated China on what it described as a unique and unprecedented public health response which played a key role in de-escalating the cases.
However, CS Kagwe announced that Kenya was not at a point where a total lockdown was deemed a necessary move.
"Up to this time, we have not said that we are stopping movement completely, of course, if the situation were to warrant it, then we'll have to take that action,
"We do not want to see any congregations anywhere in the country," he reiterated.
In his latest presser, the CS revealed that the country had confirmed 3 new cases of patients who have tested positive for Covid-19 (a couple that had flown in from Spain via Dubai and Burundian who flew in from Dubai on March 5).
"It is now clear that the threat we face is from Kenyans coming from overseas or those who had visited, those coming in must self-quarantine and sign a legal form committing to isolate, failure to which one will be charged in a court of law," Kagwe decreed.
Watch Kagwe during his latest media address below:
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