Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA
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| Very Rev. Prof. Stephen Mbugua Ngari, Vice-Chancellor of CUEA |
As the world faces the rapid spread of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), the management of Nairobi-based Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA) has asked the teaching staff to develop online teaching modules in case the virus is detected in Kenya.
“As Government of Kenya has prepared itself for the epidemic through the Ministry of Health, we as a University should also prepare ourselves for any eventualities in relation to this epidemic's spread into Kenya,” the Vice-Chancellor of CUEA Very Rev. Prof. Stephen Mbugua Ngari highlighted in a statement addressed to all teaching staff of the University.
“To prepare for the possible need, I hereby direct all teaching staff to develop online teaching modules for all the units they are teaching this semester so that they can be uploaded to the University's academic online platform,” Prof. Mbugua stated.
“The virus, which originated in China, has spread to six continents in the world including Africa. However, a case of Coronavirus is yet to be detected in Eastern Africa which includes all the countries whose Bishop Episcopal Conferences make up AMECEA,” the professor said.
“Africa countries including Nigeria, Togo, Cameroon and South Africa have reported cases of Coronavirus in their countries,” he added.
Asked why the management thought of preparing the online teaching modules because the classes could still be stopped, Prof. Mbugua said, “Postponing the semester is so expensive,” and therefore “We need to be prepared so that learning may not be interrupted.”
He further gave the teaching staff a timeframe for submitting the online teaching modules saying, “The modules are to be submitted to Blended Programmes by Friday 20th March 2020.”
He requested that people to pray for God’s intervention so that doctors can get a cure for the disease.
“Let us all pray for our country, continent and the world at large as we all work together to suppress the spread, and look for a cure of COVID-19 (Coronavirus),” prof. Mbugua conclude.
The deadly Coronavirus has led to the stop of many operations within borders of countries and according to report approximately 4,293 deaths across the globe and 119,194 confirmed cases.
As this report came to print, NTV and Citizen TV were streaming press conference whereby the Ministry of Health was disclosing that they have confirmed the first case of Coronavirus infected person – CORONA YAFIKA KENYA, meaning ‘Çorona has reached Kenya’.