Rapid Response Team Dispatched to Rongai Where Kenya's First Coronavirus Patient Lives

A rapid response team has been dispatched to Ongata Rongai where Kenya’s first coronavirus (Covid-19) patient lives.

The Health Ministry said the team was sent to the area to retrace her steps and any person she might have had contact with before she was taken ill.

A test done at the National Influenza Lab in Nairobi on Thursday night confirmed the 27-year-old Kenyan woman had been infected with the virus. Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said the lady returned to the country from the United States on March 5th.

"We have embarked on a contact tracing for all persons who have been in contact with her," CS Mutahi Kagwe said.

"We have sent a rapid response team to Ongata Rongai area where she lives for that purpose. There should be no panic."

Kagwe commended the woman for going to the hospital and providing authorities with a list of people she came into contact with after arrival. The patient is unmarried and lived alone.

"I want to thank her because the minute she started feeling unwell she felt she needed to go to a hospital. She is a very responsible citizen...She has given us the names of the people she has been in contact with."

The government is also tracking some of the passengers who traveled with her on the same flight. CS Kagwe said they are tracing those who sat close to her in the flight.