Mandera: One Covid-19 patient recovers
One Coronavirus patient in Mandera County has been discharged after turning negative of the disease, Governor Ali Ibrahim Roba has announced.
Two of the eight patients who were under isolation at Mandera County Referral Hospital were also announced as negative of Covid-19 on Friday afternoon. However, they are awaiting a second test before being discharged, according to the Governor.
Addressing a press conference at the county headquarters in Mandera Town, an upbeat Roba who wished Kenyans a "Happy Labour Day," said the remaining five patients were responding well to treatment and could soon recover.
"We are relieved to report that all persons in various quarantine facilities in Elwak, Rhamu and KMTC Mandera have tested negative for COVID-19 and have accordingly been released," Roba who was accompanied by deputy Governor Mohamed Arai said.
Also present were Finance executive Hassan Barrow and Omar Mohamed (Water) and Zulekha Mohamed (Roads).
The governor said 134 people in the county had been tested for COVID-19.
On Wednesday, 27 people were tested for COVID 19 in the border county. Nine of the people had been quarantined in Elwak, 11 (Rhamu) and one from KMTC in Mandera town.
Tests on 24 frontline health personnel also turned negative.
"This has increased the confidence levels of our medical personnel in dealing with COVID-19 patients safely. We are giving our health personnel all the necessary support including protective equipment to support the execution of their responsibilities safely and effectively," the governor said.
Noting that there still more people in quarantine in the county to test, Roba called on Ministry of Health to send a flight to carry the samples of the cases for timely testing.
"My administration is 'gravely concerned' about the unfolding COVID-19 situation in neighbouing Somalia "and its potential to spill over into our region, " Roba said during his ninth media briefing on Covid-19.
He appealed to the non-state actors to provide support to Mandera's neighbouring towns of Bulla Hawa and Elwak Somalia "as urgently as possible."
"Coronavirus is a global challenge without borders hence requires concerted efforts by all to mitigate its severity through supporting one another. Unfortunately, we have no capacity to help our neighbours as we used to support during the outbreaks of other pandemics because this pandemic is affecting everybody at the same time. We urge our public to avoid cross border movements during the period of this pandemic."
He said the county expected "a lot of false alarms arising from fevers which is as a result of mosquitoes during this rainy season." He urged residents to visit hospitals for testing without being alarmed.
His government has also carried out an assessment on the population to identify the vulnerable families requiring relief food support. The assessment identified 86000 households requiring support
"However, we further categorised in terms of the degree of vulnerability and identified 43,000 households as those requiring urgent attention. We determined that of the 43,000 households, 10, 000 households are at risk of starvation," he said.
The Governor flagged-off distribution of 693 tons of relief food to the initial 10,000 households identified as the most vulnerable in society at risk.
He thanked COCOP which is the local partner of WFP in Mandera County for distribution of an additional 450 metric tonnes of assorted food to 7000 households in three sub-counties of Mandera North, Mandera West and Banisa. He appealed to WFP to consider adding the remaining four sub-counties of Mandera East, Lafey, Mandera South and Kutulo sub-counties which have the same vulnerability index as the three WFP is supporting.
He urged residents to continue with measures to prevent Covid-19
