The government’s response to the ravaging coronavirus disease is worrying.
The entry of an aeroplane direct from China into the country on Wednesday confirmed the fears.
Governments across the globe have imposed strict controls to guard against infection. We have not.
Granted, China is vast and not every city or region is infected. But allowing in a planeload from there and casually talking of self-quarantine is scary.
Yesterday, the ministries of Health and Foreign Affairs separately issued statements on the government’s response to the crisis.
But as MPs told Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Raychelle Omamo, the responses seems underwhelming. The plain fact is that the government must do more and make its responses public.
Since its outbreak on December 31 in China’s Wuhan City, the virus has spread like bushfire.
Already, the World Health Organisation estimates that about 3,000 people have died and 80,000 infected by the Covid-19 strain.
Over the period, it has spread to more than 40 countries, two in Africa — Egypt and Algeria.
The WHO has declared the outbreak a public health emergency and mobilised countries to deal with it through early detection. Kenya and the rest of Africa have, luckily, not been affected.
The Health ministry says Kenya is duly prepared for the virus. It said the government has set up screening units at all international entry points with incoming travellers being checked and those infected identified and taken through the right procedures.
But the public is not convinced that the government has done everything necessary to protect citizens, locally and abroad, from infection.
The level of screening and other requisite processes are not foolproof. It is even questionable if Kenya has the competence to detect the virus and, if so, the capacity and resources to deal with it.
Beyond the common platitudes, it is doubtful if there is an organised system of handling the crisis.
Which is the point of discussion here. The very reason why the government has insisted it cannot bring back Kenyan students marooned in Wuhan City, the origin of the virus, is the fear that we may not have the capability to handle them.
To be sure, the WHO has advised that the best strategy is to contain the virus at the location it is detected and also mitigating the impact.
When planeload of travellers from China lands in Nairobi, therefore, questions emerge about the safety measures put in force to ascertain no infected individual enters our territory.
The government should demonstrate practically that it is dealing with the matter authoritatively and comprehensively.
Constant public communication is paramount. Here is a global disaster that requires methodical and strategic responses.
