State to trace 550 in contact with positive cases, says CS
Irene Githinji @gitshee
The government is following up on 550 people who came into close contact with the confirmed coronavirus cases, which rose to16 after one more person tested positive yesterday.
Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said the latest person to test positive for coronavirus had close contact with one of the eight cases reported on Sunday, even as the State intensified testing ahead of tomorrow’s deadline to allow international flights.
He said the ministry, working with counties, had traced 646 persons who had come into close contact with the confirmed cases.
Some 96 of these contacts have already been released from the government’s follow-up programme after completing the 14-day quarantine period and another 550 persons are still in the follow-up list.
Eleven individuals are currently admitted at Mbagathi hospital awaiting test results.
“We have received confirmation of one more case of a patient who has tested positive for coronavirus. This brings the total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Kenya to 16.
All the patients except one at the Coast are still in stable conditions and improving,” said Kagwe.
He reiterated there would be suspension of international flights effective midnight tomorrow as one of the key measures to prevent importation of additional cases into the country, clarifying that there are no screening challenges at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).
“All passengers coming into the country between now and tomorrow midnight must undergo mandatory quarantine either at their own expense in designated hotels or at government designated facilities,” the CS noted.
He apologised to individuals who have been inconvenienced since Sunday night owing to logistical challenges as a result of the speed at which the government wanted to move to quarantine individuals.
Give choice
“We now have a system working, they have been dispatched and settled and the process will be continuous.
The method we are using is giving a choice at airport of where they want to go but wherever they go there will be Ministry of Health officials and security for protection. They are not prisoners.”
Even as Mutahi lauded hotels, which have accommodated quarantined individuals, he urged them not to take advantage of people who had no plans to stay in hotels an pay high charges.
He termed charging such individuals high rates as “immoral and inconsiderate.”
“In a manner of speaking, business has been brought to you by steroids and we are appealing to you, these are people who came into the country without a plan to spend money in a hotel.
If your normal charges are say Sh12,000 you should be charging no more than 50 per cent of that or even 25 per cent. This is business you did not expect,” said the CS.
“We are encouraged to note that majority of the people have complied with the measures announced so far. We continue to appeal to Kenyans to take the matter seriously and strictly observe advisories aimed at containing the spread of the disease,” he said.
With regards to public transport, the CS condemned the move to hike fares even as he reminded the operators to adhere to directives the government has issued on the sector.
“I want to make an appeal to those in the matatu industry and others in the transport sector not to increase fares for our commuters because in so doing it will be counterproductive as we continue to fight the virus,” noted the CS.
“We are appealing to the matatu sector to kindly look at the situation, understand that the commuters they are carrying are not in the same position they were prior to this.
Some of them are not earning any money at the moment and appeal for their reasoning,” said the CS.
