The Principal Secretary (PS) Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Macharia Kamau on Tuesday, April 14, announced that 5 Kenyans had succumbed to the Coronavirus in the US over the last 30 days.
Speaking from the ministry's office along Harambee Avenue, Nairobi, the PS said that the five victims had underlying medical conditions that accelerated their condition, leading to their deaths.
During the press briefing, the Foreign Affairs PS went on to provide updates on the Kenyans stuck in diaspora during this pandemic, including 64 Kenyans who were caught up in the lockdown in India, about 120 had gone there as patients or accompanied patients.
"Some have died and maybe the families should consider letting them be buried there given the circumstances," he revealed.
He then read out a list of Kenyans stranded in various countries around the world including Australia (18), Iran (200), Hungary (21), France (61), and added that the situation was the same across various other countries such as the UK and the others in the Middle East.
PS Macharia cited the closure of all Kenyan consulates abroad, as the key reason behind the stranded cases, elaborating that all consulate staff were currently working from home, which made it quite difficult to coordinate and act.
Speaking on Kenyans currently residing in Guangzhou, China, where videos of racial discrimination targeting Africans went viral, the PS announced that the government played a key role in the preparation of a unified statement sent out by the African Union condemning the acts.
Describing the viral videos and photos of Africans stuck in the streets of China as worrisome, PS Macharia went on to lay the blame squarely on provincial Chinese governments, which he claimed were 'over-enthusiastic'.
However, he thanked the Chinese National Government for ensuring the safety of the over 3,000 Kenyans residing in the Asian country, during the outbreak of the deadly virus, further revealing that the ministry was in constant communication with the Kenyan consulate in China headed by Ambassador Sarah Serem.
"No Kenyan has died from the virus in China, which is quite remarkable considering the fact that most of them were actually stranded at the epicentre of the outbreak, Wuhan, we are thankful to the Chinese Government," he stated.
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