A passenger wears a mask as she waits at passport control in Bole
International Airport in Addis Ababa, on January 30, 2020, following an
outbreak of coronavirus in China. PHOTO | MICHAEL TEWELDE | AFP
Kenya is still at grave risk even as the country anxiously awaits preliminary test results from a patient suspected to be infected with the highly contagious novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).
Although
the Ministry of Health on Thursday tried to reassure the public that
the situation was under control, it elicited little confidence as health
experts said the government was not doing enough to protect its
citizens.
Health Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki said
that the results were yet to be processed. Meanwhile, the patient (who
is said to be in a stable condition) admitted with flu-like symptoms
will remain in isolation.
As of Thursday, the country
was still waiting to know the results even as Ms Kariuki insisted that
the country had the capacity to carry out the tests.
“The
fact that we sent a set of samples does not mean we lack the capacity.
We sent the samples to South Africa for a second opinion,” Ms Kariuki
said.
CONTROL STRATEGIES
Health experts have however faulted Ms Kariuki’s statement,
saying that there is no capacity locally or on the continent to carry
out the test for the coronavirus.
Lancet Group of
Laboratories chief consultant pathologist, Ahmed Kalebi, said that
although China shared the genetic sequence of the novel coronavirus with
the world, African countries would still need to rely on laboratories
outside the continent to test any suspected case.
“The
test required is PCR molecular test to detect active infection and
serology antibody test to check for previous recent exposure. Both
require specific kits which we do not have,” Dr Kalebi added.
He,
however, said that although the results of the samples will not
directly affect the patient, it will inform the government on the next
steps to follow.
Controlling the spread of the virus requires both public health and medical measures.
However,
the limited clinical information coming out of China means that experts
only know about the mid-to-worst-case outcomes, Dr Ahmed Kalebi said.
AFRICA'S CHALLENGES
The
World Health Organisation (WHO) has asked countries with exported cases
to share patient data, collected in a standardised way, so that more
can be learned about coronavirus.
As research
institutions and companies sprint to develop vaccines and new tools to
prevent the spread of the virus, the WHO on Thursday held its fourth
Emergency Committee meeting to determine whether the ongoing outbreak of
coronavirus constitutes a public health emergency of international
concern.
Under the WHO's current regulations to manage such situations, the emphasis is on containing an outbreak at its source.
They also require countries to be transparent with information about the outbreak and be prepared to isolate those infected.
Testing
is not the only challenge Africa faces. The current virus that has
infected thousands of people globally has no cure nor a vaccine. And
now, scientists say the virus can be passed on even before the onset of
symptoms.
“We are now learning that some people can
transmit the virus even if they are not showing symptoms. This,
therefore, renders screening useless,” said Dr Kalebi.
HEALTH MEASURES
Hand hygiene and personal protective barriers — gowns, gloves, masks, and goggles — reduce droplet transmission.
The incubation period, however, is unknown but rough estimates put it at between one and 14 days.
The WHO came under fire after it last week declined to declare a global health emergency.
In
its official definition, Public Health Emergency of International
Concern is defined in the IHR (2005) is “an extraordinary event which is
determined by a situation that is serious, unusual or unexpected”.
A
panel of experts, called the IHR Emergency Committee, is convened to
discuss the situation. IHR stands for International Health Regulations —
196 countries including all WHO member states agreed to its most recent
revision in 2005.
Ultimately, after assessing
evidence, including human-to-human transmission rates, the final
decision rests with the WHO Director-General, currently Tedros Adhanom
Ghebreyesus.
A declaration would lead to a boost in
public health measures, funding, and resources to prevent and reduce
international spread.
The measures could include
recommendations on trade and travel, including airport screening of
passengers — although the WHO generally aims to avoid disruptive trade
restrictions.
EBOLA EPIDEMIC
Only
five emergencies have been declared since then: the H1 virus that
caused an influenza pandemic (2009), West Africa's Ebola outbreak
(2014-2016), polio (2014), the Zika virus (2016), and the ongoing Ebola
outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (2019).
It took a year after the outbreak of Ebola in the DRC for the WHO to declare it a PHEIC.
Other
countries have also started evacuating citizens from China on chartered
flights, and some major airlines have halted all flights to and from
mainland China. However, Ms Kariuki said that evacuation “is currently
not on the table”.
In the past five years, the world
has faced outbreaks of Ebola, Zika, another coronavirus called MERS
(Middle East Respiratory Syndrome), and now the virus simply known as
"2019-nCoV" has infected thousands of people and killed more than 100.
But
unlike in many previous outbreaks, where vaccines to protect people
have taken years to develop, research for a vaccine to help stem this
outbreak got under way within hours of the virus being identified.
Chinese
authorities on Thursday said that there were 7,711 people who have
become infected and at least 170 have died from the disease since it was
first identified on December 31. Globally, infections have spread to at
least 15 other countries.
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