‘Diaspora visitors’ should have no Omicron, yellow fever

If you are planning to invite friends and relatives from outside the country for December festivities, just know that they have to be free of some diseases including Ebola, yellow fever and certainly they must not have contracted the Omicron variant of Covid-19.

Cases of the new Omicron variant has been detected in neighbouring Uganda and also Botswana, Hong Kong, Israel, Belgium, UK, Germany and Italy. The World Health Organisation (WHO) warns that “preliminary evidence suggests an increased risk of re-infection with this variant, as compared to other VOCs.”

The law, specifically Chapter 4 (2) of the Public Health Act guards against introduction of infectious diseases from outside Kenya and some travel-related diseases currently checked by the Ministry of Health include Covid-19, Ebola and yellow fever.

Ebola, whose symptoms include severe bleeding, persistent headache, muscle pain, chills and fever, was previously a global health pandemic but whose flag was lowered. However, surveillance officers still screens travelers for it at all ports of entry.    

Visitors to the country should also have Covid-19 vaccination certificates indicating they’re negative status and Kenya’s Head of Port Health Services, Jackson Muriithi, says there are measures in all points of entry to assist in checking relevant vaccinations.

That is besides deterring “any sick person from coming into the country” and those suspected to be sick are “put into quarantine until tests are done, or finish incubation period, and if sick, they are taken to hospital for treatment,” says Muriithi.

Health PS Susan Mochache ruled out any repeat curfews and lockdowns because of the Omicron variant but said that stringent measures including intensified checks at country’s entry points, scaling up vaccination drives and observance of prevention measures will be enhanced.

“Because of the variant, many countries have taken restrictions, but end of the day, we must continue to ensure we operate in an environment that allows trade to continue without economic depression because of Covid-19, because families must continue to interact and people must continue to move,” said Mochache.

  Dr Kakai Kulabusia, a lecturer at Egerton University, department of Medicine says globally, management of diseases has shifted to prevention, because they are viruses that keep on mutating and “scientists have developed vaccines to handle other most viral and bacterial diseases, apart from HIV/Aids.”

Dr Kulabusia adds: “Prevention of diseases has shifted from normal drugs and to vaccination. People who were traveling to Kenya would take drugs for three days, but we are anticipating having malaria vaccines adopted across board.”