Provost of All Saints Cathedral, Nairobi has warned Kenyans have to take seriously the threat of Covid-19.

The Very Rev Canon Sammy Wainaina (pictured) was speaking from the Aga Khan Hospital in Nairobi where he has been since Tuesday after testing positive for coronavirus.

“We leaders do not speak about Covid-19 and Kenyans have become casual about it but I want to tell Kenyans that it is a serious disease and Kenyans need to really be cautious about,” said Wainaina who is still at the hospital’s intensive care unit.

On Tuesday, May 26, the Provost says he developed a cold and then he developed a nagging cough. His fever rose, and he started having headaches and chills for which he got some antibiotics and painkillers from a chemist.

He says, “I went home and on Wednesday I did my weekly Provost’s Desk Live at 9am though I still felt a bit groggy and the cold could not go away.”

He says that the assumption that the pain will just go away made him put his entire family – wife and three children – in harm’s way.

“My advice is that once you develop a cold during this period, do not treat it merely as a cold because it could as well be coronavirus,” advises Wainaina, adding that if he knew, he would have isolated himself from the moment he started feeling unwell.

He states that the best thing to those who suspect they might be sick to isolate so as not to risk the lives of others that might come into contact with.

On Thursday, Wainaina went to Aga Khan Hospital’s Mombasa Road branch after calling off all Thursday and Friday meetings in what he says felt like something bigger than just a common cold.

“They did some test and put me on medication but referred me to the main hospital where I was found to have pneumonia and this prompted them to conduct a Covid-19 test,” he narrates.

After the test, he went back home and continued mingling with his family; he says this is another pitfall that people who have coronavirus could spread it.

On Tuesday this week the hospital called and informed Wainaina that he had tested positive and he needed to go for treatment. His condition deteriorated and he had to be put in an ICU.

The provost says that he is thankful to God that he is doing well.

On Friday evening, the provost sent out a message to his congregation at All Saints Cathedral about his condition.