A Kenya Airways plane threw West Africa into panic mode on Wednesday, after it landed in Sierra Leone with a suspected coronavirus patient onboard.
According to a report by the Nation, the suspected patient is of Japanese origin and was flying alongside three other Japanese nationals.
The plane had made its first landing Liberia before heading to Sierra Leone, where it was barred from landing as the country prepared to isolate the passengers who had travelled alongside the suspected victim.
After landing, the sick passenger was, however, not allowed to disembark, and was flown to an unknown location.
Sierra Leone is one of the African nations that has not yet registered any cases of the dreaded infection.
Meanwhile, anxiety is rife in Kenya, as the country hopes for better news in Thursday’s government briefing on emerging issues surrounding the coronavirus pandemic.
As of Wednesday, seven cases had been confirmed in the country, with netizens predicting that the government would order a partial lockdown in a bid to prevent a further spread of the virus.
Interestingly, two of the confirmed patients, who flew into the country from Spain early March, were not isolated in hospital but were allowed to conduct the mandatory process at their Kitisuru home.
According to Health CS Mutahi Kagwe, 11 more individuals are suspected to have the virus and are awaiting their test results.