Gov’t assures Kenyans that there is no swine flu in Kenya

The Ministry of Health has declared that Kenya is safe from swine flu.

In a statement sent to newsrooms on Monday, the government maintained that the recently-reported cases in Nairobi region were of severe acute respiratory illness (SARI) caused by a different influenza virus.

“There is no case of Avian flu (type A/H1N1) or Swine flu (type A/H3N2v) in Kenya,” read the statement in part.

“The four cases reported in Nairobi County are of severe acute respiratory illness (SARI) caused by influenza virus (type A/H3N2).”

The government further assured Kenyans that extra measures have been taken to combat any reported illnesses, including contact tracing for suspected cases among contacts of the affected.

This comes just two days after one patient with influenza-related symptoms died in a Nairobi hospital, which the government has said was a case severe acute respiratory illness.