Kenya has stepped up its surveillance after the Indian covid variant was detected in the country.
According to the Ministry of Health at least 5 people who tested positive had the Indian Covid-19 variant that has been devastating the Asain nation.
Director General of Health Patrick Amoth said the five people are Indan nationals who work at a fertiliser plant in Kisumu County.
"This variant has been picked in Kenya and because of connectivity, it was just a matter of time. You cannot be able to put barriers to prevent a virus from accessing your territory," Dr Amoth said.
"We picked this from a sample of Indian travellers who are doing some work in the western part of Kisumu. We have gone ahead together with the Kisumu county health team to do contact tracing," he added.
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India is experiencing the worst surge of Covid-19 after the B.1.617 variant was directed in the country that has reported more than 20 million cases.
As part of measures to curb the spread of the Indian variant, Kenya suspended flights to and from India. Kenyans on social media raised an issue with the national carrier operating in the country that is highly affected by coronavirus.
CS Mutahi Kagwe told the country that flights would be suspended after the National Emergency Response Committee (NERC) held an emergency meeting and determined to suspend flights.
“Given the dire events in India, we resolved to suspend all passenger flights in and out of the country for a period of 14 days. This suspension is to take effect from midnight this coming Saturday," the CS told the press.
