Dar es Salaam. The government yesterday allayed Tanzanians’ fears over the
reported outbreak of yellow fever in neighbouring Kenya, saying the World Health Organisation (WHO) was the one responsible for declaring the endemic.Kenya’s Health ministry--through a letter dated March 3, 2022, directed to the chief executive officers (CEO) of the provinces--issued a yellow fever outbreak alert.
The letter signed by the acting director general for health, Dr Patrick Amoth, said 15 patients had been reported to have contracted the disease in Isiolo and that three people had died.
Read: Kenya declares yellow fever outbreak
“The first case was detected on January 12. To date 15 patients with fever, jaundice, muscle pain and joint pain have been listed, the youngest is aged 11 and the oldest is aged 65,” he says.
According to the alert, the majority were young adults and that males were the most affected. But, when contacted yesterday, Tanzania chief medical officer Aifello Sichwale said his office had no such reports and that the global health body was responsible for declaring such outbreaks.
“Personally, I have no yellow fever outbreak reports in Tanzania. The country is safe and citizens should remain calm. The only outbreak we have is Covid-19,” said Dr Sichwale in a telephone interview.
But, a letter sent to Kenya’s provincial CEOs had it that the alert was raised in all the 47 counties in Kenya, outlining that Wajir, Garissa, Marsabit, Meru, Samburu, Baringo, Elgeyo Marakwet, West Pokot and Turkana were at high risk.
The document says the country was planning to vaccinate its citizens in high risk counties, despite the absence of specific anti-viral for yellow fever.
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