The laboratory test results of a suspected coronavirus patient who is currently quarantined at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) have been sent to South Africa for further analysis, Kenya’s Ministry of Health announced on Thursday.

In a media briefing, outgoing Health Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki indicated that the government’s next move will be informed by the analysis from South Africa even as she assured that the country has the capacity to fight the deadly virus that originated in China.

“Results carried out on the case in isolation have been sent to South Africa for further analysis to have a clear guideline on how we can move on once we established that our results are correct,” said Kariuki.

“Our systems are working, and we have the capacity and infrastructure to fight coronavirus.” 

The ministry noted that the Kenyan student, who landed at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) on Tuesday from Guangzhou, China, exhibited coronavirus-like symptoms and is still in isolation and being monitored.

The student is reported to have traveled from Wuhan, where the virus emerged on January 20th, to Zhangjiajie city. He then left for Nairobi via Guangzhou and Bangkok on January 27th and arrived at JKIA on Tuesday morning at 0615 hours.

“We call upon Kenyans who have traveled to China for the past two weeks to check themselves in various health facilities close to them as the incubation period for this virus is two weeks,” said CS Kariuki.

“We will continue to remain vigilant as we have increased screening at major entry points in the Country,” she added.

By Thursday, the death toll from the virus stood at 170, with more than 1,700 new infections confirmed, the Chinese government announced.