Nairobi County government has screened more than 7,800 individuals in a move to halt the spread of coronavirus in the country, according to the Daily Nation.
The exercise was launched last week alongside fumigation, which has seen 7,819 people screened.
The number comprises 2,057 adults, 5,328 children and 434 youths. Only two people were found with elevated temperatures. Last week, the county government embarked on fumigating open places in a bid to minimise the spread of the deadly virus that has killed at least 15,000 people globally.
The county government fumigated the General Post Office premises, public resting areas around the Hilton Hotel, Kencom bus stop, Aga Khan Walk and the expansive Gikomba market.
Other fumigated places included the Khoja bus stage, City Market, National Archives, Jeevanjee Gardens, Hakati Road, Tom Mboya stage, Muthurwa Market, Ronald Ngala Street and Mfangano Lane.
Nairobi Health Executive Hitan Majevdia said that the focus this week will be the Bus Station terminus, and Railways matatu and train termini, where screening and fumigation will be carried out for the next four days.
“We join the rest of the country in the battle to minimise the spread of the virus, which has seen 15 people test positive,” Mr Majevdia said yesterday.
A total of 215 county health officers are involved in the exercise that targets public resting furniture, bus stops, markets and other areas with large social gatherings.
Mr Majevdia added that the devolved unit has provided 13 ambulances to ferry any suspected case to quarantine at Mbagathi Hospital.
Seven of the ambulances are at Kibera South Health Centre, Mathare Hospital, Mukuru Health Centre, Mutuini Hospital, Pumwani Hospital, Kahawa West and Dandora 2 Health centres.
Rapid response He added that a rapid response team has been put in place.
“We’ve also trained 1,250 community health volunteers and additional 1,250 will be trained to carry out community sensitisation in line with the Presidential decree,” he said.
Mr Majevdia further said that the county government has trained all county and subcounty health managers who are currently supervising county health facilities and offering community-level training.
Covid – 19
The worldwide death toll from coronavirus that originated in Hubei province of China now stands at 15,000, the number of those who have been infected since the beginning nears 350,000. Recoveries stand at 100,000. Patients in critical condition are at 10,000.
In Kenya, mostly Nairobi, 15 people have been diagnosed with the disease.
The government is the only source of credible news and as such official figures stand at 15 people infected, though most people believe the number could be higher and that there are deaths.
The most hit country now is Italy with higher rates of infection and deaths.
In the past few days, Italy has been losing hundreds per day to the coronavirus.
Economic
The virus has disrupted world order.
Many companies are asking staff to take paycuts; others are even shutting down completely.
National Carrier Kenya Airways (KQ) has announced that it will suspend all international flights on Wednesday 25th, to curtail the spread of the disease.
Meanwhile, the government’s order to have Public Service Vehicles carry less passengers to adhere to the social distancing rules has made the buses hike fares.
A passenger from Umoja Estate in Nairobi, a six-minute ride to town (when there’s no traffic) complained that they have paid Ksh150, the route normally charges Ksh80.
In other areas such as Utawala, PSVs are charging passengers Ksh200 to town.
Though the rate of infections in Africa is slow, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned African countries to brace for the worst.
The Government of Kenya has received donor funding from World Bank to help in fighting the disease.
