Coronavirus
Report Suggests That Kenya Might Have Had Covid-19 Cases Since January Before March’s Confirmation
You probably must have come across conversations from people claiming to have had coronavirus like symptoms in months to the confirmation of the virus in the country before the 13th confirmation y the health ministry.
On 30th March, the state said it estimated coronavirus cases by mid-April will be 5,000, and rise to 10,000 by end of April in the absence of any drastic intervention.
One question that has been on many people’s minds is for how long has the virus probably been in Kenya before it’s confirmation?
In a recent news report, 17 children were reported dead on a mysterious illness that showed all the coronavirus symptoms in Kilifi. The government was quick to rubbish the existence of a mystery saying all deaths were linked to pneumonia.
Pneumonia is Kenya’s number one children’s killer disease.
In the wake of this, data from the National Registry of Diseases shows an alarming trend in pneumonia deaths in the last months to the confirmation of Covid-19 in March.
According to a story on Daily Nation, from January up until early February, the number of pneumonia cases were 137,667 before a dramatic increase to 195,504. While the data for March is not complete, a source at the Ministry of Health suspects that the numbers are still increasing.
The pattern — an increase from January and then a plateau — is not similar for the same period in 2019.
Experts are hesitant to link the two illnesses; Covid19 pneumonia and bacterial pneumonia which in real sense doesn’t give the real picture of the case. Could it be the increased cases are as a result of Covid19 misreported as mild pneumonia which is one of the components that Covid19 comes with?
According to the newspaper, experts are murmuring about it, careful not to link it to coronavirus. However, they suspect three scenarios — it could be people dying of Covid-19 pneumonia while on medication for bacterial pneumonia, and this may have occurred even earlier before the first case was reported, with the rains that came at the beginning of the year having led to the increase.
Dr Jeremiah Chakaya, a practising respiratory physician allied to the society, told the Nation that it is very difficult to differentiate between Covid-19 and pneumonia.
The question will remain unanswered until experts ascertain as to whether the deaths were interlinked.
Additional reporting by DN.
Kenya Insights allows guest blogging, if you want to be published on Kenya’s most authoritative and accurate blog, have an expose, news TIPS, story angles, human interest stories, drop us an email on [email protected] or via Telegram
Inside Nyayo House: The Kitchen Cartel That Demands Sh100,000 for a Stove
JSC Rot: “Why I Paid Over Sh4 Million for a High Court Slot” — Explosive Claims by ‘Incoming Judge’
Fly 748 Is Back And Flies You To Mombasa From Just Sh6,500
KRA Introduces WhatsApp Tax Filing and How It Works
Trump Says Iran War Almost Over, Warns Of Weeks More Heavy Strikes
Sold And Abandoned: How Diageo and Asahi Are Locking Kenya’s EABL Minority Shareholders Out Of East Africa’s Biggest Corporate Heist
Treasury Hands Sh358M Brief to Eric Gumbo’s Firm While Bypassing Standard Rules — and the Lawyer Is Already Deep Inside Ruto’s State Machine
Understanding Crash Betting: How It Works and What to Know Before You Play
How Firm Linked To Mombasa Tycoon Jaffer Was Allowed To Import Fuel At Bloated Price And Set To Make Billions In Profits From Iranian War Crisis In Kenya
‘A Million Things Could Go Wrong’ – Why Seizing Iran’s Uranium Would Be So Risky For The US
Tuju Forcefully Removed From His Karen Property With Masked Officers In Unmarked Vehicles In Early Morning Raid
Nowhere To Hide: Govt Begins Tracing Hustler Fund Defaulters Using National IDs To Recover Unpaid Sh12 Billion
How Little-Known Pesa Print, Linked to State House Tycoons, Won NTSA Tender Worth Sh42 Billion in Traffic Fines
Ex-Inchcape Kenya CEO Sanjiv Shah Charged With Bank Fraud
Named: Havi Says Mutava Confessed He Was Collecting The Bribe For Lady Justice Josephine Mongare, So Why Is JSC Still Silence?
The Man With The Golden Pen: How NLC’s Joel Ombati Is Accused Of Masterminding Kenya’s Biggest Infrastructure Land Heist
THE HANDSHAKE THAT BECAME A NOOSE: How Tuju’s Alleged Intimate Access to EADB’s Yeda Apopo Produced a Sh294 Million Deal With No Written Contract, and Why That Trust Destroyed an Empire
‘They Will Eat You Alive’: Retired Teacher Warns Against Bashy African Credit as Sh500,000 Loan Spirals Into Sh1.5 Million Fight
Waweru’s Bank Pockets Sh1.16 Billion from KPC IPO While Ordinary Kenyans Fled the Sale
Men Linked to Akasha Drug Dynasty Charged With Death Threats and Assault at Nairobi Nightclub
-
Business7 days agoTHE HANDSHAKE THAT BECAME A NOOSE: How Tuju’s Alleged Intimate Access to EADB’s Yeda Apopo Produced a Sh294 Million Deal With No Written Contract, and Why That Trust Destroyed an Empire
-
News6 days agoMen Linked to Akasha Drug Dynasty Charged With Death Threats and Assault at Nairobi Nightclub
-
News6 days agoCity Lawyer Kimani Wachira Caught Up In Bribery Web Fights Claims
-
Business2 weeks agoBig Shame: EY and PwC Found Guilty of Fraud and Corruption in Kenya as World Bank Bans Lay Bare Scandal Inside the Global Audit Elite
-
News2 weeks agoDARFUR SULTAN CAUGHT ON TAPE: War-Linked Figure Runs Red Lights in Nairobi With Impunity
-
Investigations2 weeks agoIs Equity Bank Becoming A Fraudsters’ Den?
-
Business2 weeks agoHow EADB Threw Tuju Under The Bus
-
Business2 weeks agoFLYING ON BORROWED TIME: Safarilink’s Decade of Incidents Puts Kenya’s Safari Skies on Trial