Ministry reports 7 new virus cases, denies knowledge of MPs testing positive

Seven new cases of coronavirus have been confirmed even as the Ministry of Health denied knowledge of any MP testing positive.

Chief Administrative Secretary Mercy Mwangangi (pictured) said while the ministry was aware of claims that some 17 legislators had tested positive for Covid-19, none of the results had been submitted to the public health office.

The claims that some legislators had tested positive have been linked to a trip abroad. Some of the lawmakers apparently travelled only to learn later that the event they were to attend had been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Also, there have been claims the legislators might have interacted with an MP who is recuperating from the disease.

While dozens of MPs took part in voluntary tests carried out by Lancet Kenya, a private lab, the CAS said those results had not been communicated to the ministry.

A statement from Lancet Kenya termed the claims circulating on social media as false and should be disregarded.

Only authority

“Any person who turns positive for Covid-19 is informed by the doctors. In addition, the Ministry of Health is the only authority mandated to release Covid-19 positive results to the public,” said Lancet Kenya Group Managing Director Ahmed Kalebi.

Mwangangi said mass testing would be rolled out soon, and Parliament was one of the institutions targeted.

"Until then, the ministry cannot authoritatively comment on the ongoing claims of positive cases," she said.

To date, the government has tested 5,278 samples with 305 in the last 24 hours. Of the 305, seven tested positive. The seven are Kenyans, four of them with history of travel to the US, UK and Congo. Two are individuals from mandatory quarantine while five were picked by the ministry’s surveillance team. The total number of positive cases now stands at 179.

The CAS, in addition to the directives issued earlier on hand washing and social distancing, ordered that all owners and attendants of barber shops and salons should wear face masks.

“They must have sanitisers for their clients and must ensure social distancing and practice basic hygiene in their operations,” said Mwangangi.

The CAS said the government is in the process of employing 500 more doctors.