RECOVERIES RISE TO 239 PATIENTS AFTER OVERCOMING VIRUS INFECTION WHILE KENYA IS ALSO TACKLING THE TRUCK DRIVER CHALLENGE TO REDUCE REGIONAL SPREAD
(Posted 11th May 2020)
Kenya has registered the highest number of people who have recovered from the Coronavirus.
The Ministry of Health, Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS), Dr. Rashid Aman announced today that 32 people have been discharged from hospital bringing the total number of recoveries to 239.
“These recoveries indicate that it is possible to overcome this disease with proper management,” he said and added that these number of patients discharged could not have been possible without the dedication and commitment of healthcare workers, some of whom he said work under very difficult condition.
The CAS also reported that in the last 24 hours, the government has tested 1,056 samples collected from individuals in quarantine facilities and from the surveillance program and 23 have tested positive for Covid-19 disease.
Twenty-two of the cases he noted are Kenyans, while one is Burundian and this now brings the cumulative number of those who have tested positive in the country to 672. Thirteen of the cases are males, while ten are females and the youngest is one year and nine months while the oldest is 80 years.
According to Dr. Aman, 12 cases are from Mombasa, 6 from Mandera, 4 from Nairobi, and one is from Kajiado. In Nairobi, 2 cases are from Umoja and one each from Komarock and Pipeline while the 12 cases in Mombasa are from Kisauni, Likoni has two and Mvita 8 cases. Mandera has 6 cases from Mandera East 3, and one case each from Elwak, Mandera North and Mandera West. Kajiado has only one case from Saina Estate.
However, the CAS also confirmed that the country lost two patients in Mombasa bringing the total number of those who have succumbed to the disease to 32. So far the overall number of samples that have been tested in the country stands at 32,097.
The Tourism and Wildlife Cabinet Secretary, Hon. Najib Balala who was also present disclosed that his ministry will hold a stakeholders meeting to discuss protocols in the hospitality industry tomorrow, inline with the government and the Ministry of Health recommendations. “The Ministry of Health will have the last say on the guidelines that will be discussed in the meeting,” he stated.
“We will be meeting with all the stakeholders both in hotel and restaurant businesses to look at the protocols and practices. We are starting with the hospitality sector and then move to other sectors as the government is committed to gradually and slowly open the economy,” he said.
Dr. Francis Kuria, Head of Public Health also re-emphasized that the Ministry will not hesitate to close premises especially the hotels and eateries that have not adhered to the laid down guidelines given for reopening up their businesses.
“Starting tomorrow we will be sweeping various premises in the area and if one is caught without the new permits as required, we will close the premises and they should know they are also liable to prosecution,” he said.
Notably has Kenya taken up the concerns of neighbouring Uganda where dozens of truck drivers were on entry found to carry the virus and in consultation with the Ugandan authorities started to take countermeasures to ensure the vital transport chain is returned to a safe state.
Dr. Kuria explained that the Government has put up designated areas along the transport chain for truck drivers who are traveling to border countries where they will be tested and also checked to know if they have followed the guidelines they have been given.
“Before one travels, the truck driver must have undergone testing 48 hours prior to travel and also gotten a certificate which they will have to present to designated areas as they travel,” he noted and added that there are designated areas along the transport chain where testing camps have been set up and also some hospitals to be availed at the MOH website.
In sharp contrast to the Kenyan action is no such information forthcoming from Tanzania, where drivers through the Mutukula border post brought many cases of #COVID19 into Uganda, while their regime back home regularly fails to report and appears to fail to carry out WHO mandated tests on a nation wide scale, subsequently exporting the virus to Uganda but also to Rwanda. Uganda’s social media have reached boiling point over such careless behaviour and in angry overtones accused the regime in Dodoma of carelessly facilitating the spread of the virus beyond their own borders.
Meanwhile in Kenya has Isiolo Governor Mohammed Kuti said considering that the number of cases are rising especially at County levels, County governments should be well prepared by setting aside more isolation and quarantine facilities.
Kuti added that current floods, due to torrential rains sweeping many parts of the country, at various counties have compounded the Covid 19 problem. Most displaced communities are camping in one area , providing an environment in which diarrhea diseases and also malaria cases might develop, requiring counties to be prepared while the National government must come in and support them on this challenging task.
